Rapid City is a city in Pennington County, South Dakota, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 59,607, and a 2005 estimate of 62,167. Rapid City is the hub of the Black Hills and the primary city in a metro of about 120,000. It is the county seat of Pennington CountyGR6 and the second largest city in South Dakota after Sioux Falls. Rapid City is also the principal city of and is included in the Rapid City, South Dakota Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Rapid City was founded in 1876 by a group of disappointed miners, who promoted their new city as the "Gateway to the Black Hills." John Brennan and Samuel Scott, with a small group of men, laid out the site of the present Rapid City, which was named for the spring-fed Rapid Creek that flows through it.