Bowman County, North Dakota | |
|---|---|
 Dakota Western Bank in Bowman | |
 Location within the U.S. state ofNorth Dakota | |
 North Dakota's location within theU.S. | |
| Coordinates:46°06′37″N103°30′21″W / 46.110144°N 103.505943°W /46.110144; -103.505943 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  North Dakota |
| Founded | March 8, 1883 (created) July 5, 1907 (organized) |
| Named after | Edward M. Bowman |
| Seat | Bowman |
| Largest city | Bowman |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,167.054 sq mi (3,022.66 km2) |
| • Land | 1,161.809 sq mi (3,009.07 km2) |
| • Water | 5.245 sq mi (13.58 km2) 0.45% |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 2,993 |
• Estimate (2024) | 2,886 |
| • Density | 2.484/sq mi (0.959/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−7 (Mountain) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−6 (MDT) |
| Area code | 701 |
| Congressional district | At-large |
| Website | bowmannd.com/county |
Bowman County is acounty in theU.S. state ofNorth Dakota. As of the2020 census, the population was 2,993,[1] and was estimated to be 2,886 in 2024,[2] Thecounty seat and the largest city isBowman.[3]
The legislature of theDakota Territory designated Bowman (named for Edward M. Bowman, a member of the territorial House of Representatives during the 1883 session) as a separate county on March 8, 1883, although it was not organized at that time. In 1885, its boundaries were altered ceding territory to Billings and Villard Counties (Villard itself was eliminated in 1887). In 1891, and again in 1896, the South Dakota legislature eliminated the not-yet-organized Bowman County, due to scant settlement in the area, but these actions either were not put into effect (the 1891 vote) or were overturned in judicial appeal (the 1896 vote).
A decision by the North Dakota Supreme Court on May 24, 1901, resurrected Bowman County. The decision caused the county's area to slightly increase; its former boundary descriptions were replaced by descriptions based on the boundary lines of adjacent jurisdictions, which added a strip along its south border and another strip along its east border.
Since the scantily populated county was still unorganized, in March 1903 the legislature attached the area to Stark County for judicial purposes. This state of affairs continued until November 1904, when the legislature again dissolved the county and assigned its territory to Billings County. However, on June 10, 1907, ND GovernorJohn Burke issued a proclamation which re-created Bowman County. This proclamation did not attach the area to any other area for judicial purposes. On July 5, 1907, the new county was organized and Bowman was confirmed to be the county seat.[4][5]
The US Navy shipUSSBowman County (LST-391), a tank landing ship inWorld War II, was named for the county.
Bowman County lies at the southwestern corner of North Dakota; its south boundary line abuts the north boundary line of the state ofSouth Dakota, and its west boundary line abuts the east boundary line of the state ofMontana. TheLittle Missouri River flows northward through the west part of the county; theNorth Fork of the Grand River flows easterly through the lower part of the county, filling Bowman-Haley Lake in the process. Spring Creek flows south-southeasterly through the central part of the county, discharging into Bowman-Haley Lake.
Bowman County's terrain consists of semi-arid high hills running north–south through the west-central part of the county, with lower hills in the remaining territory. The area is partially used for agriculture.[6] The western part slopes to the north and west; the eastern part slopes to the east and south. Its highest point is on the south boundary line, toward its southwestern corner, at 3,228 ft (984 m) ASL.[7]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,167.054 square miles (3,022.66 km2), of which 1,161.809 square miles (3,009.07 km2) is land and 5.245 square miles (13.58 km2) (0.45%) is water.[8] It is the 27th largest county in North Dakota by total area.[9]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 4,668 | — | |
| 1920 | 4,768 | 2.1% | |
| 1930 | 5,119 | 7.4% | |
| 1940 | 3,860 | −24.6% | |
| 1950 | 4,001 | 3.7% | |
| 1960 | 4,154 | 3.8% | |
| 1970 | 3,901 | −6.1% | |
| 1980 | 4,229 | 8.4% | |
| 1990 | 3,596 | −15.0% | |
| 2000 | 3,242 | −9.8% | |
| 2010 | 3,151 | −2.8% | |
| 2020 | 2,993 | −5.0% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 2,886 | [10] | −3.6% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[11] 1790–1960[12] 1900–1990[13] 1990–2000[14] 2010–2020[2] | |||
As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the median home value in Bowman County was $186,905.[15] As of the 2023American Community Survey, there are 1,237 estimated households in Bowman County with an average of 2.32 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $83,773. Approximately 9.5% of the county's population lives at or below thepoverty line. Bowman County has an estimated 65.2% employment rate, with 27.3% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 90.2% holding a high school diploma.[2]
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 (95.7%), Spanish (2.5%), Indo-European (1.8%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.0%), and Other (0.0%). The median age in the county was 42.7 years.
Bowman 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[16] | Pop. 1990[17] | Pop. 2000[18] | Pop. 2010[19] | Pop. 2020[20] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 4,204 (99.41%) | 3,580 (99.56%) | 3,195 (98.55%) | 3,039 (96.45%) | 2,760 (92.22%) |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | 1 (0.03%) | 3 (0.10%) | 0 (0.00%) |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 10 (0.24%) | 4 (0.11%) | 5 (0.15%) | 13 (0.41%) | 34 (1.14%) |
| Asian alone (NH) | 2 (0.05%) | 4 (0.11%) | 1 (0.03%) | 2 (0.06%) | 17 (0.57%) |
| Pacific Islander alone (NH) | — | — | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | 3 (0.10%) |
| Other race alone (NH) | 7 (0.17%) | 2 (0.06%) | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) | 0 (0.00%) |
| Mixed race or multiracial (NH) | — | — | 18 (0.56%) | 16 (0.51%) | 50 (1.67%) |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 6 (0.14%) | 6 (0.17%) | 22 (0.68%) | 78 (2.48%) | 129 (4.31%) |
| Total | 4,229 (100.00%) | 3,596 (100.00%) | 3,242 (100.00%) | 3,151 (100.00%) | 2,993 (100.00%) |
As of the 2024 estimate, there were 2,886 people and 1,237 households residing in the county. There were 1,638 housing units at an average density of 1.41 per square mile (0.5/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 94.8% White(91.8% NH White), 0.6% African American, 2.9% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, _% from some other races and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 4.8% of the population.[21]
As of the2020 census, there were 2,993 people, 1,294 households, and 835 families residing in the county.[22] Thepopulation density was 2.6 inhabitants per square mile (1.0/km2). There were 1,633 housing units at an average density of 1.41 per square mile (0.5/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 93.32%White, 0.00%African American, 1.24%Native American, 0.57%Asian, 0.10%Pacific Islander, 1.27% from some other races and 3.51% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 4.31% of the population.[23]
As of the2010 census, there were 3,151 people, 1,385 households, and 873 families residing in the county. The population density was 2.7 inhabitants per square mile (1.0/km2). There were 1,683 housing units at an average density of 1.45 per square mile (0.6/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 97.91%White, 0.10%African American, 0.57%Native American, 0.06%Asian, 0.00%Pacific Islander, 0.86% from some other races and 0.51% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.48% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 47.4% wereGerman, 28.1% wereNorwegian, 9.9% wereIrish, 6.4% wereSwedish, 6.4% wereEnglish, 5.4% wereAmerican, and 5.2% werePolish.
Of the 1,385 households, 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 4.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.0% were non-families, and 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.82. The median age was 46.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $48,063 and the median income for a family was $63,897. Males had a median income of $41,542 versus $27,269 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,354. About 3.9% of families and 6.7% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.
Bowman County voters have been reliably Republican for decades. In no national election since 1964 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1908 | 451 | 66.13% | 209 | 30.65% | 22 | 3.23% |
| 1912 | 302 | 29.18% | 361 | 34.88% | 372 | 35.94% |
| 1916 | 374 | 32.49% | 685 | 59.51% | 92 | 7.99% |
| 1920 | 1,192 | 69.79% | 321 | 18.79% | 195 | 11.42% |
| 1924 | 776 | 45.17% | 67 | 3.90% | 875 | 50.93% |
| 1928 | 1,031 | 54.99% | 821 | 43.79% | 23 | 1.23% |
| 1932 | 616 | 28.31% | 1,292 | 59.38% | 268 | 12.32% |
| 1936 | 534 | 26.57% | 1,118 | 55.62% | 358 | 17.81% |
| 1940 | 927 | 50.63% | 882 | 48.17% | 22 | 1.20% |
| 1944 | 785 | 55.67% | 609 | 43.19% | 16 | 1.13% |
| 1948 | 723 | 49.83% | 597 | 41.14% | 131 | 9.03% |
| 1952 | 1,375 | 71.21% | 540 | 27.96% | 16 | 0.83% |
| 1956 | 1,007 | 58.34% | 715 | 41.43% | 4 | 0.23% |
| 1960 | 1,038 | 54.98% | 847 | 44.86% | 3 | 0.16% |
| 1964 | 756 | 41.38% | 1,070 | 58.57% | 1 | 0.05% |
| 1968 | 927 | 56.46% | 559 | 34.04% | 156 | 9.50% |
| 1972 | 1,111 | 61.69% | 643 | 35.70% | 47 | 2.61% |
| 1976 | 1,033 | 51.70% | 911 | 45.60% | 54 | 2.70% |
| 1980 | 1,507 | 70.49% | 454 | 21.23% | 177 | 8.28% |
| 1984 | 1,559 | 72.55% | 562 | 26.15% | 28 | 1.30% |
| 1988 | 1,111 | 59.51% | 737 | 39.48% | 19 | 1.02% |
| 1992 | 712 | 37.34% | 506 | 26.53% | 689 | 36.13% |
| 1996 | 710 | 48.20% | 489 | 33.20% | 274 | 18.60% |
| 2000 | 1,080 | 73.42% | 330 | 22.43% | 61 | 4.15% |
| 2004 | 1,280 | 74.59% | 397 | 23.14% | 39 | 2.27% |
| 2008 | 1,107 | 67.50% | 478 | 29.15% | 55 | 3.35% |
| 2012 | 1,280 | 73.69% | 414 | 23.83% | 43 | 2.48% |
| 2016 | 1,446 | 80.92% | 227 | 12.70% | 114 | 6.38% |
| 2020 | 1,395 | 84.19% | 228 | 13.76% | 34 | 2.05% |
| 2024 | 1,384 | 85.54% | 207 | 12.79% | 27 | 1.67% |
Places adjacent to Bowman County, North Dakota | ||||||||||||||||
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Municipalities and communities ofBowman County, North Dakota,United States | ||
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| Townships | ||
| Unorganized territories | ||
| Unincorporated community | ||
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