Burleigh County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 98,458, and was estimated to be 103,107 in 2024, making it the second-most populous county in North Dakota. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and the largest city is Bismarck, the

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

. The second-largest city in North Dakota. The county was named for Dakota Territory political figure Walter A. Burleigh. Burleigh County is included in the Bismarck

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

History

The county was created on January 4, 1873, by the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

legislature, annexing territory from Buffalo County. Burleigh was not organized at that time, but the organization was effected on July 16, 1873. Its boundaries were altered in 1879, 1881, 1883, and twice in 1885.

Geography

The

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

flows south-southeasterly along the lower west boundary line of Burleigh County. The central part of the county is drained by south-flowing creeks. The county terrain consists of semi-arid low rolling hills, partially devoted to agriculture.''Burleigh County ND'' Google Maps (accessed February 16, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the south, and its western portion also slopes to the river valley. The terrain's highest point is on the upper portion of the east boundary line, at ASL. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.14%) is water. It is the 13th largest county in North Dakota by total area.

Major highways

* * * * * *

Transit

* Bis-Man Transit (Capital Area Transit) *

Jefferson Lines Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in 14 states in the Midwest and the West of the United States. History The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jefferson P ...

Adjacent counties

* Sheridan County – north *

Kidder County Kidder County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,394. Its county seat is Steele, North Dakota, Steele. History The Dakota Territ ...

– east * Emmons County – south * Morton County – southwest * Oliver County – west * McLean County – northwest

Protected areas

* Arena State Game Management Area * Bunker Lake State Game Management Area *

Canfield Lake National Wildlife Refuge Canfield Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in Burleigh County, North Dakota. It is a privately owned property with refuge easement rights for flooding with 3 acres owned in fee, and is one of six easement refuges managed ...

Florence Lake National Wildlife Refuge The Florence Lake National Wildlife Refuge, in Burleigh County, North Dakota, United States, has almost of virgin native mixed-grass prairie and a lake. This high quality prairie habitat attracts grassland birds including grassland passerines ...

Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, located in south-central North Dakota, was established in 1932 as a migratory bird refuge by President Herbert Hoover. The refuge consists of a saline basin that is long and is appropriately named "Long Lak ...

(part) * Sibley Nature Park * Wilton Mine State Game Management Area (part)

Lakes

* Bunce Lake * Bunker Lake * Clear Lake * Florence Lake * Grass Lake * Harriet Lake * Horseshoe Lake * Lonetree Lake * Long Lake * Mitchell Lake * New Johns Lake (part) * O'Brien Lake * Pelican Lake * Rice Lake

Demographics

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the median home value in Burleigh County was $325,034. As of the 2023

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

, there are 40,361 estimated households in Burleigh County with an average of 2.36 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $84,948. Approximately 7.7% of the county's population lives at or below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

. Burleigh County has an estimated 66.0% employment rate, with 38.7% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 95.2% holding a high school diploma. The median age in the county was 38.7 years. Burleigh County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition

2024 estimate

As of the 2024 estimate, there were 103,107 people and 40,361 households residing in the county. There were 44,534 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.2% White ''(86.7% NH White)'', 2.3% African American, 4.8% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 0.5% Pacific Islander, _% from some other races and 2.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.4% of the population.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 98,458 people, 39,927 households, and 24,822 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 42,692 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 86.48%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.32%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 4.32% Native American, 1.07% Asian, 0.32%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.13% from some other races and 4.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.13% of the population.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 81,308 people, 33,976 households, and 21,213 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 35,754 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 93.02%

, 0.59%

, 4.17% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 0.03%

, 0.28% from some other races and 1.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.21% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 61.0% were German, 21.1% were Norwegian, 8.1% were Russian, 6.8% were Irish, and 2.6% were American. There were 33,976 households, 29.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.2% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.6% were non-families, and 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 37.3 years. The median income for a household in the county was $53,465 and the median income for a family was $71,103. Males had a median income of $44,944 versus $31,943 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $28,784. About 6.3% of families and 9.4% of the population were below the

, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.55,0.0,0.0) id:darkblue value:rgb(0.0,0.0,0.8) ImageSize = width:800 height:400 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:103112 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:25778 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:12889 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1880 text:1880 bar:1890 text:1890 bar:1900 text:1900 bar:1910 text:1910 bar:1920 text:1920 bar:1930 text:1930 bar:1940 text:1940 bar:1950 text:1950 bar:1960 text:1960 bar:1970 text:1970 bar:1980 text:1980 bar:1990 text:1990 bar:2000 text:2000 bar:2010 text:2010 bar:2020 text:2020 bar:2024 text:present PlotData= color:barra width:25 align:left bar:1880 from: 0 till:3246 bar:1890 from: 0 till:4247 bar:1900 from: 0 till:6081 bar:1910 from: 0 till:13087 bar:1920 from: 0 till:15578 bar:1930 from: 0 till:19769 bar:1940 from: 0 till:22736 bar:1950 from: 0 till:25673 bar:1960 from: 0 till:34016 bar:1970 from: 0 till:40714 bar:1980 from: 0 till:54811 bar:1990 from: 0 till:60131 bar:2000 from: 0 till:69416 bar:2010 from: 0 till:81308 bar:2020 from: 0 till:98458 bar:2024 from: 0 till:103107 color:darkblue PlotData= bar:1880 at:3246 fontsize:M text: 3,246 shift:(-16,6) bar:1890 at:4247 fontsize:M text: 4,247 shift:(-16,6) bar:1900 at:6081 fontsize:M text: 6,081 shift:(-16,6) bar:1910 at:13087 fontsize:M text: 13,087 shift:(-16,6) bar:1920 at:15578 fontsize:M text: 15,578 shift:(-16,6) bar:1930 at:19769 fontsize:M text: 19,769 shift:(-16,6) bar:1940 at:22736 fontsize:M text: 22,736 shift:(-16,6) bar:1950 at:25673 fontsize:M text: 25,673 shift:(-16,6) bar:1960 at:34016 fontsize:M text: 34,016 shift:(-16,6) bar:1970 at:40714 fontsize:M text: 40,714 shift:(-16,6) bar:1980 at:54811 fontsize:M text: 54,811 shift:(-16,6) bar:1990 at:60131 fontsize:M text: 60,131 shift:(-16,6) bar:2000 at:69416 fontsize:M text: 69,416 shift:(-16,6) bar:2010 at:81308 fontsize:M text: 81,308 shift:(-16,6) bar:2020 at:98458 fontsize:M text: 98,458 shift:(-16,6) bar:2024 at:103107 fontsize:M text: 103,107 shift:(-16,6) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from U.S. Census Bureau

Communities

Cities

* Bismarck (county seat) * Lincoln * Regan * Wilton (partly in McLean County) *

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

Census-designated places

* Apple Valley * Driscoll * Menoken

Unincorporated communities

* Arena * Baldwin * Brittin * McKenzie * Moffit * Sterling

Townships

* Apple Creek * Boyd * Burnt Creek * Canfield * Christiania * Clear Lake * Crofte * Cromwell * Driscoll * Ecklund * Estherville * Florence Lake * Francis * Ghylin * Gibbs * Glenview * Grass Lake * Harriet-Lien * Hay Creek * Hazel Grove * Logan * Long Lake * McKenzie * Menoken * Missouri * Morton * Naughton * Painted Woods * Richmond * Rock Hill * Schrunk * Sibley Butte * Steiber * Sterling * Taft * Telfer * Thelma * Trygg * Wild Rose * Wilson * Wing

Politics

Burleigh County voters have voted Republican for several decades. With the exception of 1964, no Democratic Party candidate has received even 40 percent of the county's vote after 1940.

Education

References

External links

Burleigh County – official website

A brief history of Burleigh County : with a chronology of some of the county's earlier days (1932)
from th
Digital Horizons website

A brief history of Burleigh County : with a chronology of some of the outstanding events of the county's earlier days (1932)
from th
Digital Horizons website
* Burleigh County maps
Sheet 1
(northern) an
Sheet 2
(southern), ''North Dakota DOT'' {{authority control Bismarck–Mandan North Dakota counties on the Missouri River 1873 establishments in Dakota Territory Populated places established in 1873