Williams County, North Dakota facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Williams County
U.S. county
Old Armory at Williston
Location within the U.S. state of North Dakota
North Dakota's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	North Dakota
Founded	1891
Named for	Erastus Appleman Williams
Seat	Williston
Largest city	Williston
Area
• Total	2,148 sq mi (5,560 km2)
• Land	2,077 sq mi (5,380 km2)
• Water	70 sq mi (200 km2)  3.3%
Population  (2020)
• Total	40,950
• Estimate  (2021)	38,484
• Density	19.064/sq mi (7.3607/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large

Williams County is located on the western border of the U.S. state of North Dakota, next to Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,950. Its county seat is Williston.

The Williston Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Williams County. It is bordered on the south by the upper Missouri River, whose confluence with its tributary Yellowstone River is located just east of the border with Montana.

History

There have been two Williams counties in the history of North Dakota. The first, created in 1873, was located south of the Missouri River near where Dunn and Mercer counties are today. The second Williams County was established by the 1891 state legislature and consists of the contemporary Williams and Divide counties. The name comes from Erastus Appelman Williams, an early politician from Bismarck who served in both the territorial and state legislatures. The county government was first organized on December 8, 1891; Williston has always been the county seat.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,148 square miles (5,560 km²), of which 2,077 square miles (5,380 km²) is land and 70 square miles (180 km²) (3.3%) is water. It is the fourth-largest county in North Dakota by area.

Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir on the Missouri River, is situated on the southern boundary of the county. Little Muddy Creek is entirely within Williams County. The confluence of the Yellowstone River with the Missouri is west of Williston.

The Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is located in Williams County along the Missouri River on the Montana border.

Williams County is one of several western North Dakota counties with significant exposure to the Bakken formation in the Williston Basin.

Adjacent counties

• Divide County (north)
• Burke County (northeast)
• Mountrail County (east)
• McKenzie County (south)
• Roosevelt County, Montana (southwest)
• Sheridan County, Montana (west)

Major highways

• US 2
• US 85
• ND 40
• ND 50
• ND 1804

National protected areas

• Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (part)
• Lake Zahl National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 22,398 people, 9,293 households, and 5,746 families in the county. The population density was 10.8 inhabitants per square mile (4.2/km²). There were 10,464 housing units at an average density of 5.0 per square mile (1.9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 92.1% white, 4.0% American Indian, 0.4% Asian, 0.3% black or African American, 0.3% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.9% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 46.2% were of Norwegian, 35.9% of German, 9.8% of Irish, 4.5% of Swedish and 4.4% of English ancestry.

Of the 9,293 households, 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.2% were non-families, and 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.95. The median age was 39.0 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $55,396 and the median income for a family was $67,875. Males had a median income of $50,735 versus $27,071 for females. The per capita income for the county was $29,153. About 4.7% of families and 8.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.7% of those under age 18 and 10.4% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Townships

Defunct townships

• Hofflund

Unincorporated communities

• Buford
• Corinth
• Hanks
• McGregor
• Trenton
• Wheelock
• Zahl

Images for kids

• 

  Outline map of Williams County, North Dakota, 1914

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Williams (Dakota del Norte) para niños