Overview

Demographics provide an understanding of population size and composition by characteristics such as age, gender, and race.

What's Happening

  • After years of unprecedented growth in response to an expanding economy, North Dakota’s population remained relatively unchanged from 2016 to 2017, decreasing less than 0.1% to 755,393 residents in 2017.
  • From 2010 to 2017, the population of color in North Dakota grew at a higher pace than the U.S. (56.9% growth in North Dakota as compared to 12.3% growth in the U.S.).
  • North Dakota ranked 11th in the nation for lowest percentage of individuals with a disability at 11.5 percent in 2016.

Making connections

The population growth in the state, especially among young adults, has strengthened North Dakota’s workforce and revitalized the state’s natural increase through more births.  This will have long-term implications for the state.  One important consequence will be a growing demand for housing, especially in western North Dakota where energy development activity has overwhelmed existing housing stock.  The greatly expanding number of births will increase the number of children and youth in the state, thereby creating increased demand for childcare and educational facilities. On the other end of the age spectrum, the leading edge of the baby boom cohort moved into the 65 year old bracket which has long-term implications for health providers.  These and other issues need to be monitored over time.

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Ina Cernusca: North Dakota’s Women study: A brief overview

"North Dakota is one of few states where males outnumber females. While the U.S. population of males and females of all ages increased consistently from 2000 to 2014, with females outnumbering males, the male population in North Dakota increased at a higher rate than the female population. From 2000 to 2014, the male population in North Dakota increased by 18 percent compared to a 12 percent increase in the female population. In 2014, the male population outnumbered the female population with 95 females for every 100 males."

Kevin Iverson: The State Repository of Census Information - The North Dakota Census Office

"The North Dakota Census office is located within the North Dakota Department of Commerce and serves as the state’s liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the state’s repository of census information... The ND Census Office also serves as the State Data Center and represents North Dakota officially in U.S. Census Bureau efforts, programs, and in local issues related to the decennial census and ongoing surveys."

additional data sources

Much of the data in this section are compiled from the Census Bureau's intercensal estimates. Get links to other credible sources.

North Dakota Compass

Center for Social Research
North Dakota State University

Compass created by:
Wilder Research

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