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Officials say North Dakota has hit a historic demographic milestone, with new Census estimates showing the state’s population reached a record high of nearly 800,000 residents this past summer.
Governor Kelly Armstrong announced Tuesday, Jan. 27 that the state’s population grew for the fourth consecutive year, reaching 799,358 people as of July 1, 2025. State Demographer Nigel Haarstad says that based on current growth rates, North Dakota likely crossed the 800,000-person mark for the first time in state history this past August.
Armstrong says the state currently ranks 14th in the nation for per-capita growth, expanding roughly 50% faster than the national average.
However, research by the NDSU Center for Social Research suggests that though the state as a whole is experiencing a population increase, North Dakota’s demographics are nuanced, according to Kendra Erickson-Dockter and Mihaela Cernusca. They say urban and rural areas differ greatly in terms of growth; rural areas continue to face declining populations and the economic issues associated with that, while urban areas see growth in population and diversity, and serve as epicenters for education, economics, and healthcare. Erickson-Dockter and Cernusca point to the disparities in circumstance between older and younger people and various ethnic and racial groups, despite favorable population averages.
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