It's something people who live here understand, but now Harvard University has completed a study that confirms the label. Bismarck ranked second behind rural southeastern South Dakota at the top of the trust chart. There are those witty souls among us who suggest folks in central North Dakota are so trusting that they are, in fact, gullible. That the trust here is base on people being naive. The trust people have in Bismarck-Mandan has more to do with experience than it does innocence.
People here trust neighbors because their neighbors are basically good and honest people.
Institutions here are trusted because, compared to elsewhere, they work rather well. Also, it's true that people living here believe this is an excellent place to live. The witty would add that all those dissatisfied folks have left. But on a regular basis, the Upper Missouri River valley, and the surrounding hills and plains, make a setting for the good life. Trust us, this is where we want to be.