Located just 12 miles from the bustling city of Sioux Falls, Tea is a city located in Lincoln County, South Dakota. Although founded as its own community, Tea is considered to be a suburb of Sioux Falls. Ranked by Niche as the 2nd best suburb for young professionals in South Dakota, Tea is a relatively young community with a median age of 28.6.   

What is the community of Tea like?  

Comprising just around 4,800 residents, Tea is home to a thriving community that enjoys the best of both worlds: the charms of small-town living and the convenience of big-city amenities. Ranked by Niche as the 3rd best suburb to live in South Dakota, Tea offers a plethora of outdoor recreational opportunities and year-round community events to keep its residents and visitors excited, engaged, and involved.  
The city is home to three recreational areas: Tea Athletic Complex, Howling Ridge Park, and Prairie Trails Park. The Tea Athletic Complex is the perfect place to let your kids indulge in various sporting activities, thanks to the presence of 2 baseball fields, a soccer field, as well as tennis courts and sand volleyball courts. Similarly, located at the south end of Popular Avenue, Prairie Trails Park offers a picnic shelter surrounded by playground equipment with an open area for soccer fields. 
Besides, Tea also hosts the Teapot Days festival, which is an annual community event held each year in June and lasts three days. The event features art shows, carnival rides, fireworks, a parade, food vendors, and musical concerts. Tea also plays home to the Tea Community Library that comprises over 16,000 titles covering all genres and has a separate reading room for kids having children’s books.  
In addition, Tea residents also get to enjoy a plethora of recreational opportunities offered by the nearby city of Sioux Falls including “The Falls” of the Big Sioux River, the bustling downtown Sioux Falls, as well as concerts, shows, and theater at Washington Pavilion and Denny Sanford Premier Center.  

What is Real Estate like in Tea?     

Real estate in Tea has shown an average growth of 2.93% per year since the year 2000. Besides, since 2000, the prices of homes in Tea have appreciated by a strong 83.47%. Rate shows that the median home price per square foot for condos in Tea has experienced a growth of more than 37.69% over the last year.     
The median home price in Tea is almost $280,000. Currently, there are 44 active homes for sale in Tea, and normally it takes just 21 days for a listed home to sell. Moreover, the average cost to rent a house in Tea is $1,178 per month. At present, there are 1,659 homes and apartments in the city, 66.4% of which are owned, and the remaining 33.6% are rented.      

How is the economic landscape of Tea?     

Over the last year, Tea’s job market has grown by 1.7%, while its unemployment rate stands at a decent 1.9% - markedly lower than the national unemployment rate of 3.7%. Also, the city’s job market is expected to grow by a strong 39.6% in the next ten years. Some of the top employers in Tea include Sanford Health, Sammons Financial Group Companies, Scheels, and CCC Information Services.  
On average, a Tea resident earns around $31,500 per annum, decently higher than the US average of $28500. The city’s median household income of almost $74,500 per resident is, however, much greater than the US average of approximately $53000. Most of the residents of Tea work in construction, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, finance, professional and technical services, and healthcare.    

How are the schools like in Tea?     

Tea is covered by 3 school districts, with Tea Area School District being the city’s major school district encompassing 4 schools and 1,481 enrolled students. Besides, Tea also lies in proximity to many colleges including, among others, Kilian Community College, Southeast Technical Institute, and Dordt College.  
When it comes to higher education, Sioux Falls plays home or lies in proximity to a large number of universities including, among others, Augustana University, Globe University Sioux Falls, National American University Sioux Falls, and Colorado Technical University Sioux Falls. Besides, Tea lies 46 miles from South Dakota’s largest and the oldest public university – the University of South Dakota (USD). Founded in 1862, USD is home to South Dakota’s only medical school and law school. 

Tea in a nutshell        

To sum up, Tea is a charming city with a cozy, small-town vibe. The city offers all the modern urban amenities including great schools and colleges, parks, community festivals, and museums – all at a skip away from the bustling city of Sioux Falls that has its world of recreational opportunities to offer. If you are planning to move to South Dakota, Tea would make an excellent hometown.