Benson 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 of

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 5,964, and was estimated to be 5,756 in 2024. The

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 ...

is Minnewaukan.

History

The county was created on March 9, 1883 by the Dakota Territory legislature, and was named for Bertil W. Benson, a Dakota Territory legislator at the time. The county government was organized on June 4, 1884, and its boundary lines were altered by two legislative actions in 1885. White Horse Hill National Game Preserve and much of the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation are located within the county.

Geography

Much of the east boundary line of Benson County is delineated by the shore of Devils Lake, a closed-capture lake which would spill into the Sheyenne River in an overflow condition. The North Fork Sheyenne River flows southeasterly through the lower SW portion of the county. The terrain of Benson County consists of rolling hills dotted with lakes, ponds and drainages.''Benson County ND'' Google Maps (accessed February 13, 2019)
/ref> The terrain slopes to the east, and its highest point is on the lower portion of its west 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 (3.53%) is water. It is the 19th largest county in North Dakota by total area.

Adjacent counties

* Towner County – north * Ramsey County – northeast * Nelson County – east * Eddy County – southeast * Wells County – southwest * Pierce County – west

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 2 * U.S. Highway 281 * North Dakota Highway 19 * North Dakota Highway 20 * North Dakota Highway 57

Protected areas

* Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge (part) * Grahams Island State Park (part) * Pleasant Lake National Wildlife Refuge * Silver Lake National Wildlife Refuge (part) * White Horse Hill National Game Preserve * Volk National Wildlife Refuge * Wood Lake National Wildlife Refuge * Wurgler National Wildlife Refuge

Lakes

* Broken Bone Lake * Cranberry Lake * Free Peoples Lake * Horseshoe Lake * Lake Murie * Lake Yri * Long Lake * Sand Lake * Shin Bone Lake * Spring Lake * Stink Lake * Stony Lake * Wood Lake

Demographics

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the median home value in Benson County was $88,049. 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 1,922 estimated households in Benson County with an average of 3.04 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $68,049. Approximately 22.7% 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 ...

. Benson County has an estimated 52.2% employment rate, with 22.1% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 88.5% holding a high school diploma. The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (91.9%), Spanish (1.1%), Indo-European (0.6%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.6%), and Other (5.8%). The median age in the county was 32.4 years. Benson County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition

2024 estimate

As of the 2024 estimate, there were 5,756 people and 1,922 households residing in the county. There were 2,549 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 43.7% White ''(43.2% NH White)'', 0.5% African American, , 0.6% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, _% from some other races and 2.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.0% of the population.

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 5,964 people, 2,015 households, and 1,364 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 2,542 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 42.62%

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 ...

, 0.12%

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 ...

, , 0.12% Asian, 0.03%

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 ...

, 0.34% from some other races and 2.85% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.49% of the population.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 6,660 people, 2,233 households, and 1,628 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 2,950 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 43.38%

, 0.02%

, , 0.05% Asian, 0.02%

, 0.15% from some other races and 1.40% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.16% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 22.0% were Norwegian, 18.0% were German, 5.0% were Irish, and 0.6% were American. Of the 2,233 households, 41.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 20.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 27.1% were non-families, and 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.98 and the average family size was 3.46. The median age was 31.6 years. The median income for a household in the county was $30,479 and the median income for a family was $34,597. Males had a median income of $31,729 versus $25,253 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,545. About 26.1% of families and 35.6% of the population were below the

, including 48.3% of those under age 18 and 16.9% 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) ImageSize = width:750 height:375 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:13328 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:3332 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1666 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= 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:1890 from: 0 till:2460 bar:1900 from: 0 till:8320 bar:1910 from: 0 till:12681 bar:1920 from: 0 till:13095 bar:1930 from: 0 till:13327 bar:1940 from: 0 till:12629 bar:1950 from: 0 till:10675 bar:1960 from: 0 till:9435 bar:1970 from: 0 till:8245 bar:1980 from: 0 till:7944 bar:1990 from: 0 till:7198 bar:2000 from: 0 till:6964 bar:2010 from: 0 till:6660 bar:2020 from: 0 till:5964 bar:2024 from: 0 till:5756 color:darkblue PlotData= bar:1890 at:2460 fontsize:M text: 2,460 shift:(-16,6) bar:1900 at:8320 fontsize:M text: 8,320 shift:(-16,6) bar:1910 at:12681 fontsize:M text: 12,681 shift:(-16,6) bar:1920 at:13095 fontsize:M text: 13,095 shift:(-16,6) bar:1930 at:13327 fontsize:M text: 13,327 shift:(-16,6) bar:1940 at:12629 fontsize:M text: 12,629 shift:(-16,6) bar:1950 at:10675 fontsize:M text: 10,675 shift:(-16,6) bar:1960 at:9435 fontsize:M text: 9,435 shift:(-16,6) bar:1970 at:8245 fontsize:M text: 8,245 shift:(-16,6) bar:1980 at:7944 fontsize:M text: 7,944 shift:(-16,6) bar:1990 at:7198 fontsize:M text: 7,198 shift:(-16,6) bar:2000 at:6964 fontsize:M text: 6,964 shift:(-16,6) bar:2010 at:6660 fontsize:M text: 6,660 shift:(-16,6) bar:2020 at:5964 fontsize:M text: 5,964 shift:(-16,6) bar:2024 at:5756 fontsize:M text: 5,756 shift:(-16,6) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from U.S. Census Bureau

Communities

Cities and CDPs have population included as of 2020, and townships have the population as of 2020. The largest community by far is Fort Totten, followed by Leeds, Maddock and the county seat, Minnewaukan. There are nine cities in the county. The largest township by a 60% margin is Mission (935), which is on the south shore of Devils Lake and is popular for vacationing, as well as gambling at the Spirit Lake Casino and Resort. It is within the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation. It is followed by Wood Lake Township (471), immediately to the south of Mission Township and also included in the reservation. The third largest is Lallie Township (325), to the west of Fort Totten on the south shore of Devils Lake and within the reservation.

Cities

* Brinsmade * Esmond * Knox *

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

* Maddock * Minnewaukan (county seat) *

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairy, fairies in Middle Ages, medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania ...

* Warwick *

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

Census-designated place

* Fort Totten

Unincorporated communities

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who baking, bakes and sometimes Sales, sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient histo ...

* Fillmore *

Flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

* Hesper * Isabel * Josephine * Lallie * Niles * Pleasant Lake * Saint Michael * Tokio

Townships

* Albert * Arne *

Aurora An aurora ( aurorae or auroras), also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...

Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

* Broe * Butte Valley * East Fork * Eldon * Esmond * Hesper * Impark *

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

* Irvine * Isabel * Knox * Lake Ibsen * Lallie *

* Lohnes * McClellan * Minco * Mission * Normania * North Viking *

* Pleasant Lake * Rich Valley * Riggin * Rock * South Viking * Twin Lake * Twin Tree * Warwick * West Antelope * West Bay * Wood Lake *

Politics

Typical of many counties in the state where a significant share of the population is Native American, Benson County used to lean Democratic in presidential elections. Prior to 2020, no Republican candidate had won the majority of the county's votes since

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

in 1984. However,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

in 2000 &

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in 2016 both won a plurality of the county's votes. In 2020, Trump won a majority of the county's votes, gaining nearly 56% of the county's votes, and in 2024 he further increased his vote share, gaining over 58% of the votes.

Education

References

External links

Benson County– official website
* Benson County maps
Sheet 1
(eastern) an
Sheet 2
(western), ''North Dakota DOT'' {{Authority control 1884 establishments in Dakota Territory