We all know that Fargo is the state’s largest city and has been most likely throughout the state’s history. But now, we’re beginning to see that Fargo is larger than we think.
The most recent population estimate puts the city of Fargo at 133,000. When the 2020 census was taken, the population was round about 125,000. So it has grown quickly in four years.
But that’s not all, when we look at the Fargo metro, especially the city of West Fargo, we’re finding it’s finding its way as a principal metropolitan area across the United States.
West Fargo is now the fifth largest city in North Dakota and is beginning to close in on No. 4 Minot. It has a way to go, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if West Fargo becomes the fourth largest city by the next census in 2030.
That’s a big chunk of the metro right there. On the Minnesota side of the Red River is Moorhead, which is slightly larger than West Fargo at 44,000. That takes us past 200,000 and into the area that certainly brings surprising results.
But, it doesn’t stop there. If you add rapidly growing Horace at 6,441, Dilworth, Minn., at 4,772, Casselton at 2,472, Mapelton at 1,435 and Kindred at 1,055, you now have a population center that is bigger than get this, Madison, Wis., Des Moines, Iowa, Syracuse, N.Y., Salt Lake City and Shreveport, La.,
Drilling down into the weeds of these statistics, it’s quite a shock that the Fargo metro is now bigger than Salt Lake City.
Maybe it’s comparing apples and oranges because I’m sure these other places have suburbs as well that balloon their populations, However, the point here is to illustrate that North Dakota is on the move and is certainly going to continue to expand.
And let’s not forget, there are numerous other smaller communities in Cass and Clay counties that are going to continue to grow as Fargo grows. They include places like Argusville and Reile’s Acres; small towns now, but again, wait until 2030.
Why is this happening? Economists tell us there is one reason for this robust growth and that’s because Fargo is at the intersection of two major highways, Interstate 29 and Interstate 94.
Some might argue that so is Bismarck with I-94 going east-west and U.S. Highway 83 going north-south. Couple that with the state capitol and Bismarck should be right up there too. The issue there might be that Bismarck doesn’t have major cities on either side of it. It has Fargo to the east and Billings to the west and Minot to the north and Pierre to the south.
Fargo on the other hand has Winnipeg to the north and Kansas City to the south. Granted, there are numerous places in between like Grand Forks, Sioux Falls and Omaha, but Winnipeg to Kansas City is considered a direct route for trade and tourism and Fargo sits right in the middle of it.
Another consideration is that Bismarck hasn’t got numerous suburbs like Fargo has. For instance, Mandan, its own city in its own right, helps a lot. There’s also Lincoln which has grown quite well over the years. Even so, if you add those surrounding communities to Bismarck’s total metro population, it doesn’t quite come close to half of what the Fargo metro has regarding population.
The city of Bismarck is going to continue to grow, there’s no doubt about that. But the way the Fargo area is expanding, it’s going to be difficult for anyplace to keep that pace going.
Somehow the city of Fargo has managed to leap over two major hurdles that allow it to continue to grow. The West Fargo boundary to the west, the Red River to the east being the Minnesota state line and Hector Field airport to the north.
So, in effect, the only direction the growth can go is south. And if you’ve been to Fargo lately, there’s a whole lot of housing and industry south of I-94 that wasn’t there as recently as 25 years ago.
