Bowman and Williams County (Bismarck, Grand Forks: apartments, rent, condo)

[wpcp]

how is williams county and that area?
how is bowman county and that area?

i have pretty much narrowed north dakota down to either williams or bowman county. but i think it will probably be williams. but it depends.

what are the some nice sized cities close by and how far are them?

where is the nearest airport, and/or other form of transportation, like amtrak, that can take me to both chicago and tucson?

how are the schools?

how are the jobs?

what is life in general like there?

if you had to pick bowman or williams county which would you pick? why?

thanks.

[fourwinds]

Williams County is the Williston area: plenty of jobs but may be hard to find housing. Williston schools are very good. If you like the outdoors and hunting/fishing, rather good locale. Transportation links are not very good: commuter flights to Bismarck and Denver. Minot is two hours away, but only offers flights to MSP.

Bowman: not many jobs but rents and property are probably very cheap. Probably has the best winter weather in ND. Close to badlands. Not much lakes around, except for a nearby reservoir. Much of NW South Dakota is almost uninhabited (as well as Slope County in ND). Schools are probably good in the lower levels, but lack of population limits offerings for high school. Nearest decent airports are Rapid City, Bismarck, and Billings: all have flights to Mesa (AZ) with Allegiant, or Chicago, or MSP, or Denver.

[3-Oaks]

Bowman co has 3242 people and 1167 sq. miles. There are 4 cities (in ND all incorperated municipalities are referred to as 'cities') Bowman has 1600 people and the county school. Gascoyne has 23 people with 1/3 at or below poverty level. Rhame has a pop. of 189 with 18% below the poverty level, and Scranton has 304 people.

Slope county is the next county north of Bowman co. It had 767 people in 2000 and has 1219 sq. mi. Averag household income was $24,667 and 17% of the people were below the poverty level.

There are 2 towns. Amidon, the county seat has 26 people and Marmarth has 140. Marmarth is interesting because in 1920 it was a booming community of over 1300 due to several unusually wet years providing bumper crops which are unusual in western ND. Normally it's soooo dry that there is little in the way of crops grown. Now it's almost like a ghost town with neat theaters, and other abandoned buildings.

[Roloff1976]

Williams county would be my choice. Williston is the main town there with a population estimated to be around 16,000 (with the oil boom). Housing can be a problem, but it has gotten a lot better. There has been a lot of new homes, apartments, and condo's built. Along with the re-opening of a couple trailer courts that were closed during the last oil boom in the early 80's. Even with the oil prices down, Williston is still growing. Oil companies are still building like crazy there. Everywhere you look, new oil field service building are popping up everywhere, and land all over the outskirts of Williston is being scraped for more industrial and housing subdivisions. ND has an un-employment rate of only 4.2, Williams county sits at 2.7 as of last month...so that kind of tells you the area is NOT hurting too badly. Williams county also just overtook Ward (Minot) for taxable sales, and is closing in on Grand Forks county (city of Grand Forks)...remind you, that Minot is nearly 2 1/2 times bigger than Williston, and Grand Forks is 4 times bigger. As far as transportation, Williston is limited for air service...but they do have 4 daily flights to Denver, and the city is working on a 5th. Williston also has AmTrak that runs east-west from Chicago to Seattle. Minot is 120miles from Williston, Regina (to the north in Canada) is about the same (Regina has around 200,000 people...so larger than any city in North Dakota). Housing is comparable to other ND towns/cities. A new house will run you around 200,000...new condo's around 150,000. Rent is variable...anywhere from 500 up to 1400 a month. Mobile homes rent for around 800. Just to give you an idea of housing. The area is rural, but is along the Missouri river...and turns into Lake Sakakawea a few miles east of Williston. Nice terrain, good hunting, good fishing. Lots of potential in that area of the state.