Elevate Rapid City optimistic as nearly 50 national companies considering move to Black Hills

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Elevate Rapid City says it’s working to bring more businesses from other states to the city.

In fact, four or five businesses could be making their way to Rapid City in a couple months.

Elevate also says nearly 50 companies nationally are considering moving to the city, which could bring as many as 2,500 jobs.

President and CEO Tom Johnson, says those companies’ main concerns are whether there’s a viable workforce here, the proximity to other markets, air service and taxes.

“So we always think that taxes matter first,” Johnson said. “We talk about South Dakota being one of the tax friendliest states in the country and it is and it matters. But, it’s not always the first thing that companies are looking for. They want to, can they get a work force that’s educated and available and now.”

Johnson says there’s a strong possibility that a handful of businesses could move to the Rapid City area in the next few months. He believes that the COVID-19 pandemic may have made businesses consider where they want their business as opposed to where it could be.

The types of businesses include:

• Manufacturing businesses
• High Tech businesses
• Financial services

The types of jobs that could be created from these businesses pertain to:

• Financial services and analytics
• Software development
• Sales
• Engineering
• Manufacturing & Production
• Accounting