Williston is a city in and the county seat of Williams County, North Dakota, United States. The 2020 census gave its population as 29,160, making Williston the sixth-most populous city in North Dakota.
It is near the southeast edge of the Williston Basin, named after the city. This huge subterranean geologic feature is known for its rich deposits of petroleum, coal, and potash, which contributed to the city's population nearly doubling between 2010 and 2020, due largely to the North Dakota oil boom.
Williston's newspaper is the weekly Williston Herald. Williston is the home of Williston State College and the Miss North Dakota Scholarship Pageant.
History Founded in 1887, Williston was named for Daniel Willis James, a merchant and capitalist, by his friend, railroad magnate James J. Hill.John Matzko, Reconstructing Fort Union (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001), 26; Ben Innis, Sagas of the Smoky-Water (Williston, ND: privately published, 1985), 344.
In 1907 Williston was the site of a rolling cyclone that killed two people.
Geography Williston is located at the crossroads of U.S. Highways 2 and 85, near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, at the upper end of the Lake Sakakawea.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water.
The municipality is from the Montana-North Dakota border and from the Canadian border."Overview" (Archive). Sloulin Field International Airport. Retrieved on June 2, 2014.
Climate Williston has a cold semi-arid climate; closely bordering upon a warm-summer humid continental climate. It is part of USDA Hardiness zone 4a. The normal monthly mean temperature ranges from in January to in July. On average, there are 2 days that reach or higher, 22 days of + highs, 39 days with a low of or below, 7 days with lows plummeting to at least , and 6 days that do not rise above 0 °F annually. The average window for freezing temperatures is September 20 through May 21, allowing a growing season of 121 days; . Extreme temperatures officially range from on December 23, 1983 and February 16, 1936 up to on July 5, 1936; the record cold daily maximum is on January 16, 1930, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is last set July 19, 1974.
Precipitation is greatest in June and July and averages annually, but has ranged from in 1934 to in 1896. Snowfall averages per season, and has historically ranged from in 1908–1909 to in 2010–2011; the average window for measurable (≥) snowfall is October 21 through April 26, although snow in May occurs at most several times per decade and September snow is a much rarer event. Due to the relative aridity, there are only 3.9 days per season where 24-hour snowfall exceeds .
Notes
Demographics
Williston is in northwestern North Dakota's booming oil patch, where adequate, affordable housing has become a concern since the 2010s.Meg Lindholm, "Flock To N.D. Oil Town Leads To Housing Crisis," NPR, May 28, 2010 According to a February 2014 article in Business Insider, Williston had the highest apartment rents in the United States.
Racial and ethnic composition +Williston, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 % 2000 % 2010 White alone (NH) 11,622 13,42821,049 92.89% 91.25%72.18% Black or African American alone (NH) 15 471,912 0.12% 0.32%6.56% Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 453 471691 3.62% 3.20%2.37% Asian alone (NH) 30 47545 0.24% 0.32%1.87% Pacific Islander alone (NH) 2 496 0.02% 0.03%0.33% Other race alone (NH) 0 2104 0.00% 0.01%0.36% Mixed race or multiracial (NH) 236 3891,600 1.89% 2.64%5.49% Hispanic or Latino (any race) 154 3283,163 1.23% 2.23%10.85% Total 12,512 14,71629,160 100.00% 100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Williston had a population of 29,160 and a population density of . There were 14,417 housing units at an average density of .
The median age was 30.8 years. 26.4% of residents were under the age of 18, 8.9% were under 5, and 8.1% were 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 118.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 123.8 males.
98.4% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.6% lived in rural areas.
There were 11,706 households and 6,570 families. 32.7% of households had children under the age of 18 living in them; 39.3% were married-couple households, 31.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 19.4% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
The housing unit vacancy rate was 18.8%; the homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 22.2%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 21,899 75.1% Black or African American 1,960 6.7% American Indian and Alaska Native 764 2.6% Asian 564 1.9% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 97 0.3% Some other race 1,264 4.3% Two or more races 2,612 9.0% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 3,163 10.8%
American Community Survey
As of the 2022 American Community Survey, there are 11,410 estimated households in Williston with an average of 2.39 persons per household. The city has a median household income of $80,352. Approximately 7.4% of the city's population lives at or below the poverty line. Williston has an estimated 76.8% employment rate, with 25.8% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 89.8% holding a high school diploma.
The top nine reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were German (18.0%), Norwegian (15.5%), English (4.5%), Irish (4.5%), Subsaharan African (2.9%), Polish (2.4%), French (except Basque) (2.1%), Scottish (1.3%), and Italian (0.8%).
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 14,716 people, 6,180 households, and 3,589 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 6,542 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.65% White, 0.35% African American, 3.32% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.35% from some other races and 2.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.23% of the population.
There were 6,180 households, of which 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.6% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.9% were non-families. 34.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.99.
The median age in the city was 35.5 years. 23.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 10% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.7% were from 25 to 44; 25.4% were from 45 to 64; and 14.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.0% male and 49.0% female.
2000 census As of the 2000 census, there were 12,512 people, 5,255 households, and 3,205 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 5,912 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.69% White, 0.17% African American, 3.65% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from some other races and 2.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.23% of the population.
The six leading ancestry groups in the city are Norwegian (47.8%), German (31.6%), Irish (9.6%), English (5.8%), Swedish (4.5%), Dutch (4.3%) and French (4.0%).
There were 5,255 households, of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.4% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.0% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.96.
The age distribution was 25.6% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 25.8% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,962, and the median income for a family was $38,713. Males had a median income of $29,578 versus $18,879 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,656. About 11.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.1% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Williston's economy, while historically based in agriculture and especially ranching, is increasingly being driven by the oil industry. The Williston Basin, named after the town, is a huge subterranean geologic feature known for its rich deposits of petroleum, coal, and potash.
Williston developed over the Bakken formation, which by the end of 2012 was predicted to be producing more oil than any other site in the United States, surpassing even Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, the longtime leader in domestic output in the nation.. The state of North Dakota provides a website detailing daily oil activity. The oil boom has been spurred here by the development of new technologies—such as fracking—which enabled extraction from areas previously inaccessible.
In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there were 150 million barrels of oil "technically recoverable" from the Bakken shale. In April 2008, the number was said to be about four billion barrels; in 2010 geologists at Continental Resources, the major drilling operation in North Dakota, estimated the reserve at eight billion. In March 2012, after the discovery of a lower shelf of oil, it announced a possible 24 billion barrels. Although current technology allows for extraction of only about 6% of the oil trapped beneath the earth's surface, recoverable oil might eventually exceed 500 billion barrels.
Williston has seen a huge increase in population and infrastructure investments during the last several years with expanded drilling using the fracking petroleum extraction technique in the Bakken Formation and Three Forks Groups. Examples of oil industry-related infrastructure investments are the multi-acre branch campus of Baker Hughes and the Sand Creek Retail Center.
A major regional grain elevator is served by the BNSF Railway. Williston's livestock arena has weekly auctions.
Forts Union and Buford, as well as the nearby confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers west of the city, associated with the history of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and development of the fur trade and frontier—are destinations for area tourism. Williston is also comparatively close to the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Arts and culture
Sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places include: James Memorial Library, established in 1911, now James Memorial Art Center. The Old Armory, built in 1915, now used by the community theater non-profit Entertainment, Inc!, founded in 1981.
Library The first Williston Public Library was completed in town in 1911, opening February 27, 1911, and it operated as the only facility until 1983. In the early 1990s the city began to address the issue of probable demolition of this aged building to replace it with one meeting modern needs. Williston Public Library serves as the public library for all of Williams County. The library also has a bookmobile that serves rural schools and retirement home communities.
Sports Williston Keybirds of North Dakota American League Baseball.