magazine

By Kim Babij-Gesell
It’s a pretty good gig these days, being
Mayor of Bottineau, North Dakota.
Holding the post since mid-2012,
Ben Aufforth has watched his city of
2,200 citizens flourish over the past
number of years.
A self-proclaimed four season playground,
Bottineau has seen construction of new houses,
duplexes, townhouses and apartments, the
emergence of a new hotel, and the continued
vibrancy of a thriving business district.
And as if that isn’t enough, the icing on
the cake was being named one of the Top 10
cities in North Dakota for young families by
finance company NerdWallet.
“It’s awesome; any kind of recognition
like that is great,” says Aufforth. “I think it
goes to show we know what we’re doing out
here, too. But, definitely, seeing it in print is
nice.”
NerdWallet released its Top 10 list in December
2013, based on a study which aimed
to find the North Dakota communities with
the best financial mix for young families
looking to move to the state.
The study was a data driven comparison
of the cities in North Dakota, looking at three
main factors. The first factor was schools:
NerdWallet used a national, non-profit education
evaluator called GreatSchools for their
information. A number between one and 10
compares the schools to the state average.
The second factor was affordability,
where they looked at the cost of living in
the city and the typical salary there, and the
third factor was growth. NerdWallet looked
at the average household income and income
Raising Your
Kids in the
Oil Patch
growth over the last decade; a higher income
and a higher growth would lead to a higher
overall score.
Thirty-four North Dakota cities and areas
designated as “places” by the U.S. Census
were included in the analysis, and only places
with a population greater than 1,500 were
considered.
Once they began compiling their research,
NerdWallet Senior Analyst Divya Raghavan
says they discovered something they didn’t
necessarily expect: on a whole, North Dakota
is quietly exploding, more than just about
anywhere in the United States.
“We’ve been doing this for all the states,”
says Raghavan. “We found that most states,
most cities don’t have a growth rate like this.
Most cities have a growth rate between five
and 20 percent, so these growth rates in
North Dakota are well above the average.”
What exactly are those above-average
growth rates? Take the city atop the North
Dakota list, Horace. It boasts an incredible
95.8 percent growth rate. But Horace certainly
isn’t alone. Raghavan says their data
showed the top three cities on the list—Horace,
Watford City and Stanley—all have a
growth rate above 95 percent. The reason
Horace was ultimately named the best city for
young families is because it’s so well-rounded.
“For reference for those who don’t know,
Horace is near Fargo. It got such a high ranking
because it did well in all of the three main
factors we’re looking at. Firstly, Horace’s
schools have a rating of nine out of 10 from
GreatSchools, which was the highest on our
list. Next, it’s more expensive, with higher
median home values, but there’s also a higher
median income in that city,” says Raghavan.
The list of Top 10 cities in North Dakota
for young families looks like this:
1. Horace;
2. Watford City;
3. Stanley;
4. Carrington;
5. Rugby;
6. Harvey;
7. Oakes;
8. Valley City;
9. Bottineau; and
10. Beulah.
Beyond the Top 10, the next five cities include
Dickinson, Jamestown, Bowman, Grafton
and Hazen. Raghavan says the growth in
the state is interesting, not only because it’s
going so quickly, but because it has been happening
on its own.
“North Dakota has had a recent economic
boom because of oil. But we found that a
lot of these cities were not affected by that
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