Aberdeen, SD

Aberdeen is a regional city in northeastern South Dakota and home to Northern State University. Before European settlement, the area was part of Sioux homeland, and the modern city later grew as a railroad and service center for the northern prairie. Northern State, the Aberdeen Wings hockey team, and the South Dakota Film Festival all add to local life. Aberdeen feels like a substantial prairie hub: far from the state's largest metros, but important for education, health care, shopping, and civic life across a wide rural region.