# Stark County, North Dakota

Stark County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,646, making it the 7th most populous county in North Dakota. and was estimated to be 33,001 in 2023. Its county seat is Dickinson.
Stark County is part of the Dickinson, North Dakota micropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the Dickinson Micro Area had a population of 38,686 (a July 1, 2023 estimate placed the population at 38,054) in Billings, Dunn, and Stark Counties.

## History

The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on February 10, 1879, taking area from now-extinct Howard and Williams counties and some previously unincorporated territory. It was named for George Stark, a vice president of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The county organization was not completed at that time, but the new county was not attached to another county for administrative and judicial purposes. The county lost a portion of its area when Hettinger County was created on March 9, 1883. On May 25, 1883, the Stark County organization was affected.
The county boundaries were altered in February and in March 1887. The county was slightly enlarged on January 18, 1908, by a small strip of land (due to a redefinition of county boundary lines), giving Stark County its present boundary lines.

## Geography

The south branch of the Heart River flows through the central part of Stark County, discharging into Patterson Lake at Dickinson, then flowing east-southeasterly into adjacent Morton County. The county terrain consists of semi-arid rolling hills, mostly devoted to agriculture. The terrain slopes to the east, with its highest point near its SW corner, at 2,831 ft (863 m) ASL. According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,340.328 square miles (3,471.43 km$^2$), of which 1,334.913 square miles (3,457.41 km$^2$) is land and 5.415 square miles (14.02 km$^2$) (0.4%) is water.
The southwestern counties of North Dakota (Adams, Billings, Bowman, Golden Valley, Grant, Hettinger, Slope, Stark) observe Mountain Time. The counties of McKenzie, Dunn, and Sioux counties are split.

### Major highways

* I-94
* US 85
* ND 8
* ND 22

### Transit

* Dickinson Public Transit
* Jefferson Lines
* West River Transit

### Adjacent counties

* Dunn County - north/Central Time in the north part of the county
* Mercer County - northeast/Central Time
* Morton County - east/Central Time
* Grant County - southeast/Central Time
* Hettinger County - south
* Slope County - southwest
* Billings County - west

### Lakes

* Abbey Lake
* Patterson Lake

## Demographics

As of the third quarter of 2024, the median home value in Stark County was $276,100.
As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 13,217 estimated households in Stark County with an average of 2.44 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $80,744. Approximately 9.6% of the county's population lives at or below the poverty line. Watonwan County has an estimated 68.2% employment rate, with 27.2% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 91.2% 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 (92.2%), Spanish (3.7%), Indo-European (1.8%), Asian and Pacific Islander (1.1%), and Other (1.2%).
The median age in the county was 34.5 years.
Stark County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
| Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) | Pop. 1980 | Pop. 1990 | Pop. 2000 | Pop. 2010 | Pop. 2020 |
| White alone (NH) | 23,390 (98.70%) | 22,471 (98.42%) | 21,922 (96.85%) | 22,765 (94.07%) | 28,307 (84.13%) |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 13 (0.05%) | 17 (0.07%) | 47 (0.21%) | 186 (0.77%) | 1,033 (3.07%) |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 135 (0.57%) | 138 (0.60%) | 203 (0.90%) | 230 (%) | 392 (1.17%) |
| Asian alone (NH) | 46 (0.19%) | 77 (0.34%) | 50 (0.22%) | 288 (1.19%) | 344 (1.02%) |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | — | — | 5 (0.02%) | 7 (0.03%) | 51 (0.15%) |
| Other race alone (NH) | 31 (0.13%) | 3 (0.01%) | 9 (0.04%) | 15 (0.06%) | 88 (0.26%) |
| Mixed race or multiracial (NH) | — | — | 164 (0.72%) | 254 (1.05%) | 1,157 (3.44%) |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 82 (0.35%) | 126 (0.55%) | 236 (1.04%) | 454 (1.88%) | 2,274 (6.76%) |
| Total | 23,697 (100.00%) | 22,832 (100.00%) | 22,636 (100.00%) | 24,199 (100.00%) | 33,646 (100.00%) |

### 2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 33,646 people, 13,561 households, and 8,394 families in the county. The population density was 25.2 inhabitants per square mile (9.7/km$^2$) There were 15,381 housing units at an average density of 11.5 per square mile (4.4/km$^2$). The racial makeup of the county was 85.97% White, 3.12% African American, 1.39% Native American, 1.06% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 2.76% from some other races and 5.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 6.76% of the population. 27.6% of residents were under the age of 18, 7.5% were under 5 years of age, and 14.4% were 65 and older. The gender makeup of the county was 51.9% male and 48.1% female.

### 2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 24,199 people, 10,085 households, and 6,167 families in the county. The population density was 18.1 inhabitants per square mile (7.0/km$^2$). There were 10,735 housing units at an average density of 8.0 per square mile (3.1/km$^2$). The racial makeup of the county was 95.15% White, 0.81% African American, 0.99% Native American, 1.21% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from some other races and 1.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.88% of the population.
In terms of ancestry, 59.0% were German, 14.7% were Norwegian, 7.7% were Russian, 7.7% were Irish, 7.3% were Czech, 5.4% were English, and 3.5% were American.
There were 10,085 households, 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 38.8% were non-families, and 30.9% 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 38.3 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $49,536 and the median income for a family was $62,560. Males had a median income of $42,338 versus $26,451 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,282. About 5.9% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.9% of those under age 18 and 13.1% of those age 65 or over.

### Population by decade
## Communities
### Cities

* Belfield
* Dickinson (county seat)
* Gladstone
* Richardton
* South Heart
* Taylor

### Unincorporated communities

* Antelope
* Daglum
* Lefor
* Schefield
* Zenith

### Unorganized Territories

There are no townships in Stark County, but the United States Census Bureau divides the county into four unorganized territories:
* Dickinson North, the northern part of the county outside Dickinson, had a population of 3,326 at the 2020 Census.
* Dickinson South, the southern part of the county, had a population of 577 at the 2020 Census.
* East Stark, the eastern part of the county outside Gladstone, Taylor, and Richardton, had a population of 849 at the 2020 Census.
* West Stark, the western part of the county outside Belfield and South Heart, had a population of 632 at the 2020 Census.

## Politics

Stark County voters have tended to vote Republican for decades. In no national election since 1964 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024). Despite its rapid population growth due to a massive oil boom, Stark County has swung right faster than almost any county, with oil-friendly Republican candidate Donald Trump collapsing Democratic support in 2016 by almost 10% and increasing Republican margins to 79%, the highest since Eisenhower in 1952. While Joe Biden managed to stop a three-election slide in percentage in 2020, Trump further increased his percentage to 80%, the highest since 1920.
United States presidential election results for Stark County, North Dakota :
| Year | Republican | Republican | Democratic | Democratic | Third party(ies) | Third party(ies) |
| Year | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
| 2024 | 12,323 | 81.61% | 2,473 | 16.38% | 304 | 2.01% |
| 2020 | 12,110 | 80.47% | 2,499 | 16.60% | 441 | 2.93% |
| 2016 | 9,755 | 79.17% | 1,753 | 14.23% | 814 | 6.61% |
| 2012 | 8,521 | 73.25% | 2,812 | 24.17% | 300 | 2.58% |
| 2008 | 7,024 | 63.13% | 3,802 | 34.17% | 301 | 2.71% |
| 2004 | 7,220 | 69.42% | 3,013 | 28.97% | 167 | 1.61% |
| 2000 | 6,387 | 65.33% | 2,784 | 28.47% | 606 | 6.20% |
| 1996 | 4,086 | 46.94% | 3,095 | 35.55% | 1,524 | 17.51% |
| 1992 | 4,491 | 42.06% | 3,003 | 28.12% | 3,184 | 29.82% |
| 1988 | 6,137 | 61.35% | 3,678 | 36.77% | 188 | 1.88% |
| 1984 | 7,641 | 71.15% | 2,759 | 25.69% | 340 | 3.17% |
| 1980 | 6,312 | 70.11% | 2,016 | 22.39% | 675 | 7.50% |
| 1976 | 4,374 | 49.93% | 4,076 | 46.53% | 310 | 3.54% |
| 1972 | 5,115 | 62.91% | 2,636 | 32.42% | 380 | 4.67% |
| 1968 | 4,365 | 58.64% | 2,577 | 34.62% | 502 | 6.74% |
| 1964 | 2,888 | 40.33% | 4,270 | 59.63% | 3 | 0.04% |
| 1960 | 3,223 | 43.43% | 4,197 | 56.56% | 1 | 0.01% |
| 1956 | 4,251 | 70.38% | 1,778 | 29.44% | 11 | 0.18% |
| 1952 | 5,322 | 79.58% | 1,332 | 19.92% | 34 | 0.51% |
| 1948 | 3,222 | 60.15% | 2,017 | 37.65% | 118 | 2.20% |
| 1944 | 2,852 | 64.85% | 1,534 | 34.88% | 12 | 0.27% |
| 1940 | 4,367 | 67.63% | 2,075 | 32.14% | 15 | 0.23% |
| 1936 | 1,602 | 26.10% | 4,012 | 65.35% | 525 | 8.55% |
| 1932 | 1,443 | 23.17% | 4,786 | 76.83% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1928 | 1,924 | 37.28% | 3,231 | 62.60% | 6 | 0.12% |
| 1924 | 2,130 | 50.58% | 266 | 6.32% | 1,815 | 43.10% |
| 1920 | 3,526 | 86.23% | 532 | 13.01% | 31 | 0.76% |
| 1916 | 1,409 | 58.10% | 953 | 39.30% | 63 | 2.60% |
| 1912 | 387 | 22.40% | 678 | 39.24% | 663 | 38.37% |
| 1908 | 922 | 63.76% | 496 | 34.30% | 28 | 1.94% |
| 1904 | 703 | 73.92% | 231 | 24.29% | 17 | 1.79% |
| 1900 | 780 | 64.20% | 426 | 35.06% | 9 | 0.74% |