SIOUX FALLS: How Run Down Is South Dakota's Biggest City? This Is What We Found

We travel to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the largest city in the state. The Big Sioux runs in an almost full circle within the city, and is bordered by beautiful parks on nearly it's entire length. The falls themselves are something to behold. A vibrant downtown anchors the city. But is the rest of the city beautiful as well? We show you what we found.

Travel Vlog 94

[adamgre]

In 2016 I worked for a Construction company in Perth, Western Australia. The company won a contract to build a new stadium for the city, and as the Client (the WA State Government) specified the best of the best superscreens (Jumbo-Trons); as Daktronics make the best superscreens in the world, that's what we ended up going with, however the procurement process meant flying over to South Dakota and inspecting them before purchase (they cost several 10's of million's of dollars) - that's when I was introduced and got to visit Sioux Falls.

Instantly fell in love with the place. While you've captured the look and 'well put togetherness' of the place (as well as highlighting some of it's feature's), what I found most attractive and appealing was the 'vibe'. It felt safe, connected and very friendly. Busy, with more than enough to do without feeling in any way frantic or oppressive. Perfect way to do a large rural town or small city. I'm from rural Victoria in Australia and I wish our country towns were put together even 1/2 as good.

And you all should be uber proud of Daktronics - our Stadium one many national and international awards after we finished building it and many of those can be attributed to the quality of those kick arse screens...🙂

[bruxploring]

Very nice review of our city! You covered basically all of the highlights of it, but you missed the beautiful Cathedral, a quite majestic work of architecture on top of a hill.

[Joe-ievk]

I just moved to South Dakota a few weeks back from New York State hour or so away from Sioux Falls maybe. And I gotta tell you it’s night and day difference. If this is there big bad city I assure you this is nothing I was born and raised in Buffalo you wanna see run down you wanna see crime yeah my only regret about moving to South Dakota is that I didn’t move my family out here years ago

[katl]

It’s really interesting to hear about Sioux Falls from an outsiders perspective! Sioux Falls is a pretty great city overall ❤️ The festival of cultures is great!!

[SoDakTwisties]

I'm a Sioux Falls resident, and I appreciate this video! I like Sioux Falls for it's amenities and the western part of the state (Black Hills) for it's natural beauty. Quite a difference, geologically.

[gerardhaubert]

Lived there for 20 years, my two sons and 9 grandchildren still live there. A great place to live, work and raise children. The city has really come alive. Only problem is the weather….unbearably cold. Moved to South Carolina and it took me years to thaw out.

[exuberantrat]

Sioux Falls local, here!
The sculptures downtown are changed throughout the year! East of downtown Iis a beautiful historic district as well.
We have way too many casinos in my opinion, there are three within 5 blocks of my house..not counting those in the gas stations.
Nice to see our town from an outsiders point of view, makes me realize things I take for granted here.

[jzen]

Thank you for this video! I’m going to visit a friend in Sioux Falls and am considering living there. I currently live in a crime-ridden overcrowded city that leans very heavily in one direction politically and want out. Sioux Falls seems like a decent place to start a family and settle down.

[johnme]

Thanks for visiting! I’m proud of our little city! A couple things, crime here is low… I think the reason we have so many car thefts is BECAUSE crime is so low. We are a very trusting people and cars can be an easy target when we leave them running to warm up on a cold winter morning or in a parking lot when we run into a store quick. In the 1990’s I don’t know anyone who locked the door to their homes. I wish it could still be that way but we learned it couldn’t and one of these days we’ll learn to lock our car doors too.

The little casinos ARE a blight! We used to be riddled with payday loan shops too charging over 500% interest. Predatory lending!! We passed a law capping loan interest rates at 36% in 2016 and the man that owned them all was furious so he sold everything he had in the state (including a race track) and left so those are all gone now. To that, we say good riddance!

So glad you got to see so many good things, the festival of cultures and a little bathroom humor. I’d like to think that we here are very accepting people with a “if you treat me with respect you will also be respected” and that’s all that matters mentality. You should have parked illegally while you were here, with out of state plates, you get a nice little warning note that says “Thanks for visiting our city” instead of a ticket which is a nice touch. Thanks again for visiting our city, we hope you’ll come visit us again!

[StevenDietrich-kw]

A couple of comments. I think you overstated the severity of the weather. I've lived here 44 years and I think I have seen it over 100 degrees maybe 30 days in those 44 years. Same thing with minus 20, perhaps one or two days a winter. Crime is increasing unfortunately. I was very surprised to hear that we are high in auto theft as I've never heard of anyone having their car stolen here. We are windy as hell, especially in the Spring. Top-notch medical care. Hate the "casinos".

[love-light]

I’ve been here 2 years and never stepped foot in one of those casinos…. But there are quite a few. The nicest people are found in this town… amazing and generous! Thanks for sharing ✨💖✨

[twitchythewitch]

Heya! Sufu (our pet name for Sioux Falls) resident here! I like that you focused on the downtown area of the city. It is the oldest and most characteristic and diverse part of the city. Couple facts to add. Our unemployment is low but our homeless population is increasing because housing has increased by half but income has not and we have a gentrification problem.
We have some other super cute things to see that you would have loved. We have a Japanese gardens and down the street from that is our veterans park.
The casinos thing is weird. Our state gov decided a long time ago to put a cap on how many people can be in a casino at any time to try and keep big casinos out. They also have banned all games except slot machines. So now we have 5 billion tiny casinos every 3 blocks instead.
And since you love the falls so much you'd probably love to know that they do a light show on the 4th that is reflected off the water mist and the whole thing is decorated for Xmas with millions of lights.
I'm glad you liked it here!

[harleysdawn]

I lived in Sioux falls when I was in college and years after that. The crime was really really low when i lived down there. you could walk without worrying about anyting. Now the crime is worse and when I go down there to visit it's got a lot of attractions and a lot of cool things there. I wouldn't feel safe living down there again. The Rushmore motel that you had on there is one of the most run-down seediest in Sioux falls it has a reputation for a lot of drug arrests and prostitution.

[DonYaroslavtsev]

I was born in Sioux Falls SD, I lived there for 18 years and now I been living in Florida for about 3 years, I miss living there because everything was soo close and easy to get around. There wasn't much to do there but it was nice and quiet and not much crime. I really enjoyed going to downtown with friends and going to falls park all the time. The thing I dont understand is that majority of people have no clue Sioux Falls even exists, People think there is nothing out there and we ride horses all over which is weird, Its growing quite fast with people moving in and its mainly more of a work city and cheaper living compared to other states. Its very easy to get to Minneapolis or you have an option of Kansas which isn't too far either. I just miss being there overall.

[melissarohwedder]

Enjoyed the tour. I moved from Houston 15 years ago and I miss the food choices...but love the slower pace and proximity to everything. People are not quick to warm up to newcomers, but if you're persistent, you'll find really good folks who will show up when you need them. Love the parks here and downtown. It's a good place to live.

[samterrymcgovern]

I grew up in that beautiful city and it's sad that you didn't drive around MxKennon Park. All four sides of that Park have the most stunning homes. I grew up in one that is no longer there but have the most fantastic memories of the growing up in the best neighborhood, 50 yrs ago. I can't believe how it's grown and all the changes. We also are at the bread and circus on our last visit there. 👍

[jeridougherty]

I moved from Sioux Falls to N. C. a year ago. I'm now packing to move back to Sioux Falls in 2 months, and I can't wait to return to that wonderful city, with all it has to offer. The Midwestern work ethic is a very real thing!!!

[Excalibur_Gaming]

As someone from sioux falls I can confirm that the amount of casinos are far too many, but there are some absolutely over the top Vegas style casinos nearby just outside the city. The falls are amazing and has a large healthy farmers market in the summer season.
Edit: 21:10 I've climbed over there, got my shoe wet :)

[BellaBoosLunches]

In the summer the park with the statue of David hosts family movie night. They play movies on a big screen and it's a great free family activity. We love grabbing our dinner and eating it on a blanket while watching a movie outside!

[jmurf]

Thanks for visiting. I was born and raised here. Our weather is... fickle, for sure. If we get less then 2 feet of snow we consider it a light snow. The heat is killer but we have more good days then bad. The falls park does this amazing laser light show in the winter with the lights bouncing off and around the ice formations. All in all, a great place to live. I have no opinion about the casinos. I don't gamble, so I don't go there. Anywho, i enjoyed the video. Thanks for shining a little light on our great community.