Population buoys from slowdown
By Jack Dura
Farmer Staff Writer
Pegging Watford City’s new normal is a tough nut to crack, says North Dakota’s census office manager.
“Do ‘normal’ and the Bakken go together?” Kevin Iverson said.
U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for North Dakota cities in 2016 were published this month, noting a 4.5 percent decline for Watford City last year from 2015, at 6,390 people. Meanwhile, the cities of Alexander and Arnegard gained about five people each from 2015-16.
Multiple factors are at play in the new numbers, Iverson said, including effects of the downturn from 2015.
As for people leaving, he added, males ages 22-23 primarily comprised the exodus.
“It was young males, easy in, easy out,” Iverson said. “‘All I’ve got to do is fill my pickup or the trunk of my car and head down the road.’ That’s the way they got there.”
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