South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem delivers her annual budget address on December 8, 2020 in Pierre. Photo: Patrick Callahan, South Dakota Broadcasters Association
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — In her budget address Tuesday, Gov. Kristi Noem said people are moving to South Dakota because of the state’s “freedom” and good economy.
However, the state is having a hard time quantifying the number of people moving into the Rushmore State.
“We’re trying to gather that information,” Noem said in a news conference with radio journalists following her address. “It’s a little bit difficult to tell specifically how many people. We do know that it’s been thousands.”
She added that different communities are tracking in different ways.
“So, I think that’s information we’d love to have,” Noem said.
The Governor said that the state does know that as people move, local communities are keeping track of the amount of families kids enroll in
school.
However, she cautions, “None of them are exact because we’ve had a ton of people move into the state to homeschool their kids.”
