Counties / South Dakota / Pennington County

Pennington County, SD

FIPS 46103 · population 113,512 · part of Rapid City, SD

$369k
Zillow home value · 2026-06
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

Zillow home value
$369k
▲ 1.8% year over year
Zillow ZHVI · direct
Median asking rent
$1,460
▲ 3.8% year over year
Zillow ZORI · direct
Gross yield
4.8%
annual rent ÷ price, before costs
derived: rent × 12 ÷ price ✓
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,336
market rent is 1.09x the standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Independent price check

Do two methods point the same way?

Zillow estimates a current home value. FHFA tracks repeat mortgage transactions. Their growth rates should be read side by side, not averaged.

Both annual signals move in the same direction
FHFA five-year cumulative+58.7%not annualized · through 2025
0%ZILLOW ZHVI2026-06+1.8%FHFA HPI2025+2.5%
Annual changes use different methods and may use different periods. The comparison checks direction and magnitude; it does not create a blended estimate. Zillow county ZHVI pulled 2026-07-26; FHFA annual county HPI pulled 2026-07-28.
Owner-reported value$302k
Surveyed gross rent$1,120
Rent burden 30%+48.7%
Median year built1982
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
10.3%vacant
51,681estimated housing units
Occupied tenure30.7% renter
owner 69.3%renter 30.7%
Structure mix67.9% single-family
Single-family 67.9%20+ units 8.7%Mobile home 8.7%Other 14.8%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs62,446▲ 0.5% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments5,846annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,149▲ 4.3% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities22.7% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+0.5%WEEKLY WAGE+4.3%Trade, transportation, and utilities22.7%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Pennington County presents an income-versus-exit tension. Zillow’s 2026-06 median home value was $368,775, up 1.77% year over year, while median asking rent was $1,460 per month, up 3.82%; the supplied gross yield is 4.75% before costs. Investors prioritizing current-income screening should investigate, while buyers dependent on resale momentum should be cautious. FHFA’s repeat-transaction HPI rose 2.47% in 2025. That supports positive price direction across a separate method and vintage, but it is not a home value and cannot be averaged with Zillow’s change.

02Housing economics

Measured market rent, rather than HUD, supports the stated yield. That asking rent is 109.3% of the $1,336 two-bedroom HUD Fair Market Rent; FMR is a payment standard, not an estimate of asking rent. The county’s 1.08% effective property-tax rate and $3,265 median annual tax are carrying-cost context, not a tax bill derived from the Zillow value. At this gross-yield level, asset-specific taxes, insurance, repairs, vacancy and management determine whether cash flow remains after costs.

03Demand & competition

Buyer evidence adds negotiating rather than demand certainty. In Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS listing market, active listings were 463, up 1.98% year over year; median listing prices were 3.14% lower, median marketing time was 46 days, and 14.14% of listings had price reductions. These are visible supply, asking-price and seller-concession measures, not closed sales or proof of buyer demand. Tax-return migration shows more households moved in than out and incoming movers reported higher average AGI; non-occupant mortgages were a minority of purchases. In 2025, QCEW shows annual covered workplace employment and average weekly wages increased; Trade, transportation, and utilities was the largest disclosed private supersector. QCEW is neither resident employment nor unemployment.

04Risk & next checks

Inland flood is the named dominant hazard, and modeled annual expected building-value loss is 0.15%. This is a modeled ratio, not an insurance quote or a property-specific loss estimate. The record does not publish flood-zone status, insurance quotes, property condition, lease comparables, vacancy, operating expenses, financing terms, or closed-sale comparables. Those gaps prevent a net-yield, debt-coverage, flood-cost, or exit-price conclusion; the next checks are parcel hazard and insurance review, current lease and expense verification, and nearby closed-sale and rental-comp analysis.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Pennington County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Rapid City city77.9KBox Elder city*12.9KRapid Valley CDP7KColonial Pine Hills CDP2.6KGreen Valley CDP1.6KAshland Heights CDP1.1KHill City city834Johnson Siding CDP704
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

15 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Rapid City cityIncorporated place
    77,946
  2. 02
    Box Elder cityIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    12,902
  3. 03
    Rapid Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    6,975
  4. 04
    Colonial Pine Hills CDPCensus-designated place
    2,609
  5. 05
    Green Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    1,642
  6. 06
    Ashland Heights CDPCensus-designated place
    1,105
  7. 07
    Hill City cityIncorporated place
    834
  8. 08
    Johnson Siding CDPCensus-designated place
    704
  9. 09
    Wall townIncorporated place
    622
  10. 10
    New Underwood cityIncorporated place
    509
  11. 11
    Hermosa townIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    353
  12. 12
    Keystone townIncorporated place
    336
Show 3 more places
  1. 13
    Wasta townIncorporated place
    70
  2. 14
    Quinn townIncorporated place
    48
  3. 15
    Caputa CDPCensus-designated place
    27

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.153% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax1.08%

$3,265 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration+462

5,030 in · 4,568 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$9,575

$74,555 arriving · $64,980 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors6.8%

96 of 1,417 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings463▲ 2.0% year over year
Median days on market46▲ 15.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced14.1%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▼ 3.1% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

Same metro

The other counties in Rapid City, SD

A metro is an average of these. Which side of a county line a property sits on can change the tax bill, the hazard profile and the tenant pool.

CountyPopulationPriceRentYieldHazard
Pennington County113,512$369k$1,4604.8%inland flooding
Meade County30,546$401k$1,4064.2%inland flooding
Custer County8,892$518kn/an/awildfire
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Flood exposure and unreported insurance terms could overwhelm the pre-cost yield.
  2. MLS listing evidence may not translate into closed-sale pricing or absorption.
  3. Missing vacancy, operating-cost, financing and lease data prevent confirmation of net cash flow.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

What is the reported gross yield?

The supplied gross yield is 4.75% before costs.

How does market rent compare with HUD's two-bedroom FMR?

Median asking rent is 109.3% of the $1,336 two-bedroom HUD FMR, which is a payment standard rather than market rent.

What share of purchases went to investors?

Investor or non-occupant mortgages accounted for 96 of 1,417 purchases, or 6.77%.