North Dakota Geographies

In addition to tracking statewide trends, Compass provides data by geographic location (scroll down to see details).

Check out the geographic profiles now!

North Dakota map

North Dakota has eight state planning regions.

  • Region I comprises Divide, McKenzie, and Williams counties
  • Region II comprises Bottineau, Burke, McHenry, Mountrail, Pierce, Renville, and Ward counties
  • Region III comprises Benson, Cavalier, Eddy, Ramsey, Rolette, and Towner counties
  • Region IV comprises Grand Forks, Nelson, Pembina, and Walsh counties
  • Region V comprises Cass, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele, and Traill counties
  • Region VI comprises Barnes, Dickey, Foster, Griggs, LaMoure, Logan, McIntosh, Stutsman, and Wells counties
  • Region VII comprises Burleigh, Emmons, Grant, Kidder, McLean, Mercer, Morton, Oliver, Sheridan, and Sioux counties
  • Region VIII comprises Adams, Billings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope, and Stark counties

North Dakota has three metropolitan statistical areas.

  • Bismarck, which comprises Burleigh, Morton, and Oliver counties in North Dakota (located in Region VII)
  • Fargo, which comprises Cass County in North Dakota and Clay County in Minnesota (located in Region V)
  • Grand Forks, which comprises Grand Forks County in North Dakota and Polk County in Minnesota (located in Region IV)

North Dakota has five micropolitan statistical areas.

  • Dickinson, which comprises Stark and Billings counties in North Dakota (located in Region VIII)
  • Jamestown, which comprises Stutsman County in North Dakota (located in Region VI)
  • Minot, which comprises McHenry, Renville, and Ward counties in North Dakota (located in Region II)
  • Wahpeton, which comprises Richland County in North Dakota and Wilkin County in Minnesota (located in Region V)
  • Williston, which comprises Williams County in North Dakota (located in Region I)

North Dakota has four Native American Indian reservations.

  • Fort Berthold
  • Spirit Lake
  • Standing Rock (which continues into South Dakota)
  • Turtle Mountain
  • (A small segment of the Lake Traverse reservation is in the southeast corner of North Dakota)

North Dakota has 53 counties.

North Dakota Compass

Center for Social Research
North Dakota State University

Compass created by:
Wilder Research

© 2025. All rights reserved.