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What is it about North Dakota which allows it to have low crime, unemployment and a high standard of living?
I believe it is because of a very homogenous population, old fashioned values (which used to exist all over the country) and low population density. These qualities existed long before the oil boom hit the western part of the state.
The Dakotas are at the bottom of my list of states for relocation. Somehow they seem incredibly dull in every way
The states does O.K. in K-12 education but in no way is a leader. In terms of college education the state is lacking in top flight universities. Basically the state is driven by agriculture and natural resources.
If you like rural living and wide open spaces it's not bad.
No thanks, I grew up next to North Dakota, in Minnesota. I don't care how good their economy is, it's not worth living there. I want more out of life than what North Dakota has to offer.
Having lived in NoDak as a teen I can attest to the fact that in SOME regards it's a great place to live (or at least it was at the time). The folks there are very friendly - but also very nosey (essentially because there's little else to do in the winter but gossup). Still, overall - in spite of the nosiness - the we found the people to be generally some of most wonderful of anyplace I've ever lived, and I have to say that we REALLY enjoyed our time there (a year and a half (more to the point - TWO WINTERS)). Also - despite the obvious "boring" aspect of the scenery (flat, flat, and more flat) there IS a certain GRANDEUR and atypical beauty to the Great Plain - it so damned VAST that it REALLY makes you feel TINY.
Now, having said that, if I had the chance to live there again would I?
NOT a chance - mostly of course because it's just TOO DAMN COLD.
Jeeze! We hit -117 wind chill one night (using the old calculation method). That kind of cold is UNGODLY!!!
Regarding the economy - while Wingnuts here may try and claim that the economy is so good because of GOP governing practices, that's simply NOT the case. Back before oil was discovered, NoDak was DYING economically and its population shrinking for decades. As another poster has already pointed out, NoDak's current success as a "great place to live" can be traced to 2 things:
1) The Oil Boom
2) The lack of large urban areas and the problems that come with them. You have to keep in mind that the population of the ENTIRE STATE is only a bit over 670,000 - that's less than many CITIES in other parts of the country, and the biggest city in the entire state (Fargo) has less than 100,000. In other parts of the country there are SUBURBS bigger than that.
So, while NoDak's UE rate is the lowest in the country, the fact is that the low UE rate still only represents a pretty small number of jobs. There are no doubt more people employed in the Seattle metro area than in the ENTIRE STATE of NoDak. NoDak's employment numbers look great but mostly that's because the states' population is so darned small. Plenty of work there for folks who are willing to brave the cold though - assuming not too many decide to move there in search of those jobs (probably a small risk of that happening considering how rough the winters are).
Elitists don't last too long in the Dakotas. Though, sometimes they are eaten for lunch and spit out like rancid milk.
Oh yeah "elitists." AKA people who actually want more than one horse in their town.
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AKA people who actually want more than one horse in their town.
