by Concordia College students in History 112HU, Fall 2016
Hillsboro and North Dakota's Western Migration.
North Dakota may be the smallest state, population-wise, in the United States. However, we have seen a rather large increase in population in the past decades due to migration and economic increases. Starting from the 1990s many people have started to migrate to eastern North Dakota in search of work and health services, while many moved due to high taxes and unemployment in the west.
Hillsboro, Traill County, North Dakota is a great example of this, as during this time Hillsboro had a large amount of jobs and land to build homes. In the original 1964 photograph, there is a lack of homes and an abundance of trees. In the 2016 re-photograph, all of the trees have been cleared out to make room for new homes.
Migration increase
From 1990 to 1996, a large migration occurred in North Dakota. Many people started moving from rural areas, in the west, to the more metro areas, in the east, of the state. This was caused by an increase in manufacturing employment and the rise of retail jobs, which would be very hard to find in the more rural areas of North Dakota. Another possible reason could be the decrease in the number of farms out west, as roughly 50% of the state’s farms had decreased. This may have caused unemployed farmers to move out east in search of work. Hillsboro would have been a great location, as it is a relatively small community, with a large number of jobs. The metro region of North Dakota, region five consisting of Cass, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele, and Traill Counties, saw a zero percent increase in out-migration during the 1990s, while the rural and remote regions saw an increase of 21 percent. This shows that the western half of the state was gravitating towards region five.1
Migration was not always a matter of vocation, it also had to do with age and health. As people get older, it is important for them to move into metro areas, as they are much closer to hospitals and nursing homes. This can be seen in Hillsboro as the majority of their residents are elderly. The fact that metro areas have such large populations means that residents in eastern North Dakota have much easier access to doctors and physicians than those who live in the western part of the state. This would explain why region five was the top choice for migration, as larger cities in the east such as Fargo and Grand Forks have accesses to many different hospitals and elderly care facilities. Hillsboro itself is a rather small community, but it would make sense that elderly people who are used to rural areas to move in, as the town has the benefits of a metro area with the feel of a rural area.
Traill county is on the low side for physicians, with only 5 physicians, all of which work in Hillsboro, with 1,741 patients per physician. This is more than the majority of North Dakota’s counties, as over half of the state has 2,500 or more people per physician, while 17 of North Dakota’s counties do not have a physician at all. This would definitely help Hillsboro draw in more elderly and family households, as they would not have to drive to an entirely different county to get medical assistance.2
Economic Changes
Economic changes were a huge factor in the population increase in Hillsboro, North Dakota. To see how the economy affected the population, it is important to look at the unemployment rate and fiscal reports of North Dakota from 1990 to 1996.
North Dakota had a much lower Unemployment rate than the rest of the United States during the 1990s, at just about three percent lower than the rest of the country. This helped motivate many people to stay in North Dakota, and even persuaded some to move in from other states. While some counties did have an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent or greater, about a percent larger than the national average, the majority of counties had an unemployment rate lower than 3.5 percent. Region five itself had an unemployment rate of 1.9 percent, the lowest of any region in the state. The increase of jobs in region five would definitely attract people to the Hillsboro area. Traill county did have the highest unemployment rate in region five, at 3.5 percent, however, that was still a very large decrease from 1986 when the number of unemployed residents was 4,368. In 1996 the number of unemployed residents had fallen to 3,923, which would encourage many to move into the county, and explains why there was an increase of homes in my re-photograph.3
Another factor in the economic side of population growth in Hillsboro is the fiscal side, Things such as taxes can contribute to population growth. Taxes are perhaps the biggest indicator of migration, as “Property taxes are the main revenue source for many counties in North Dakota”. However, the fact that property taxes in rural areas are considerably higher than those in metro areas.This shows us that high taxes could cause many people in rural areas to migrate east to find more affordable living, which would have been abundant in Hillsboro due to the amount of land during the 1980s and 90s.1
In conclusion, migration and economic change both have had effects on the population growth of Hillsboro, Traill County, North Dakota. The change from agriculture to retail business allowed many people to migrate from western to eastern North Dakota, as well as decrease the unemployment rate in region five, and increase the population of Traill County and Hillsboro. Lower taxes in the region also allowed many people to decide that the metro area of Hillsboro was a better place to live, as there were a larger number of health services that would allow people to live a more comfortable life, while still having the advantages of living in a small community.
- Coon, Randal C. and F. Larry Leistritz. “The State of North Dakota: Economic, Demographic, Public Service, And Fiscal Conditions.” Miscellaneous Publications (North Dakota State University, Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics, 2003). https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/nddmpu/23075.html.
- Membership Directory. Bismarck, ND; North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Health Facilities. 1997.
- Job Service North Dakota. Selected Years 1986-1996. Annual Benchmarked Employment Statistics, unpublished data. Bismarck, ND.