Best and Biggest ND Oil Town? (Bismarck, Minot: rent, movie theater, income) - City-Data Forum

paulmo · 03-12-2011, 07:39 PM

I've read that ND is going through an oil boom, and I'm wondering what is the biggest hub for oil companies in the state. Williston, Dickinson, Bismarck, or? Thanks in advance for suggestions.

moskiter · 03-12-2011, 08:21 PM

Williston. Green is oil.

Roloff1976 · 03-12-2011, 09:19 PM

Agree...definately Williston. They have over 300 oil service related companies located there, and they continue to move in. If you go to the north dakota job service site and search number employed by industry, Williston has the most employed in the industry by a long shot.
Link below is for new hired employee wages:
http://www.ndworkforceintelligence.com/admin/gsipub/htmlarea/uploads/lmi_led20101williston.pdf (broken link)

Link below lists "service industry" jobs for mining (which includes oil extraction) look at the bottom of the page and you will see Willaims county has nearly 5,000 employed, Stark county (Dickinson) is 2nd with a little over 1,000, and Mountrail (Stanley & Parshall-New Town) has nearly 1,000 as well. McKenzie is 3rd with a little over 500 ,etc..

http://www.ndworkforceintelligence.c...=&zip=&radius=

I copied and pasted the chart...the link above is a dead link when I copy and paste????? not sure why...it works on the state of ND job service site? but as soon as I copy and paste the link, it goes dead???

Mercer county shows confidential...I'm guessing they pretty much make up the remaining few thousand out of the nearly 9,000 in the state of ND...considering they have all the power plants. (this chart includes power plants and coal extraction)

McKenzie County 540
Mercer Confidential
Mountrail County 954
Stark County 1,167
Ward County 491
Williams County 4,862

The State of North Dakota 8,912

paulmo · 03-13-2011, 06:16 AM

Thanks for replies, that's really helpful. So which town is best for access to recreational water and things to do besides work?

lisan23 · 03-13-2011, 10:20 AM

I live in Williston, there's lots of access to recreational water here, when spring finally hits we'll start fishing again - the fishing up here is great (but I think that's applicable to just about anywhere in the area).

It depends on what you like to do. They've got a decent outdoor gun range, I've heard there's an indoor gun range but I've never been. The movie theater here is nice, the small town I lived in before had the most disgusting theater. This one is kept clean, my only complaint is the price. (We went and saw Rango yesterday with our daughter and between ticket prices and snacks it cost $40. I also took her to see a 3D movie matinée once with just the 2 of us and it cost me $18 for the matinée.)

As for restaurants, the HomStay has a new place attached to it that is 21 and older only, there's an Applebee's, Quizno's, Taco Johns, Dairy Queen, Hardee's, Arby's, Subway and McDonalds. There's also some local restaurants, Gramma Sharon's is all right, I don't like Dakota Farms. There's quite a few pizza places here as well.

As for shopping, there's WalMart, Albertsons, and Economart. All 3 are almost always busy. Same goes with the restaurants, they're almost always busy.

This town is very VERY busy, there's not much in the way of housing up here. As for recreation... most people who get jobs in the oilfield up here don't really have a lot of recreation time.

paulmo · 03-13-2011, 12:59 PM

Thanks for the description lisan; so how does Williston compare to Dickinson or even Bismarck?

And do you find state income tax and other taxes pretty good? ND seems to fall in the middle of the rankings I'm reading.

moskiter · 03-13-2011, 06:24 PM

Take into account there is no housing in and around Williston or even when there is, it is very expensive, both rent and buy. So unless you work on an oil field you won't be able to make a living there.

kychlo · 03-13-2011, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulmo

Thanks for the description lisan; so how does Williston compare to Dickinson or even Bismarck?

And do you find state income tax and other taxes pretty good? ND seems to fall in the middle of the rankings I'm reading.

You aren't comparing apples to apples. Bismarck is not an oilfield town. Bismarck is 220 miles south east from Williston and is 90 miles straight east of Dickinson. Bismarck has "everything" an ND town could ask for but is NOT an oil town. Dickinson is an oilfield town but Williston would have more job opportunities. (with the least amount of housing). Williston is the size (or nearly the size) of Dickinson but is not directly on an interstate highway as Dicksinson is so we don't have quite the services that Dickinson has but most people would rather work in Williston than Dicky cuz Williston is smack dab in the middle of the states oilpatch and Dickinson is on the southern end. Still quite a way from the Minot area.

paulmo · 03-13-2011, 07:23 PM

OK thanks for that info. So how do Dicky and Willy compare as towns? Like if it weren't for the oil job, which would you rather live in?

kychlo · 03-13-2011, 07:32 PM

I'm from Williston. I hate Dickinson.

Better ask someone less partial...

Williston has NO housing. You might not have a choice anyway. If not for oil job, go to Bismarck. Three times the size of either Williston or Dickinson.