Stutsman County, North Dakota

Stutsman County
Stutsman County
County
	Historic Stutsman County Courthouse
	Location within the U.S. state of North Dakota
	North Dakota's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 46°59′N 98°58′W / 46.98°N 98.96°W
Country	United States
State	North Dakota
Founded	January 4, 1873 (created); June 10, 1873 (organized)
Named for	Enos Stutsman
Seat	Jamestown
Largest city	Jamestown
Area
• Total	2,298 sq mi (5,950 km2)
• Land	2,222 sq mi (5,750 km2)
• Water	76 sq mi (200 km2) 3.3%
Population (2020)
• Total	21,593
• Estimate (2023)	21,392
• Density	9.4/sq mi (3.6/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	www.stutsmancounty.gov

Stutsman County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 21,593, making it the 8th most populous county in North Dakota.^[1] Its county seat is Jamestown.^[2]

The Jamestown, North Dakota Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Stutsman County.

History

The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on January 4, 1873, with area partitioned from Buffalo and Pembina counties. It was not organized at that time, nor was it attached to another county for administrative or judicial purposes. It was named for Enos Stutsman, an area lawyer and politician. On June 10 of the same year, the county organization was effected, with Jamestown as the county seat. Its boundaries have not changed since its creation.^[3]^[4]

Geography

The James River flows south-southeasterly through the east central part of the county. The terrain consists of low rolling hills, dotted with lakes and ponds in its western portion. The area is largely devoted to agriculture.^{[citation needed]} The terrain slopes to the east and south; its highest point is a hill at the southwestern corner, at 1,965 ft (599 m) ASL.^[5] The county has a total area of 2,298 square miles (5,950 km²), of which 2,222 square miles (5,750 km²) is land and 76 square miles (200 km²) (3.3%) is water.^[6] It is the second-largest county in North Dakota by land area and third-largest by total area.

Major highways

Lakes

Alkali Lake
Arrowwood Lake
Barnes Lake
Big Mallard Marsh
Blair Slough
Blue Lake
Chase Lake
Chicago Lake
Colby Lake
Eric Lake
Fischer Lake
Fisher Lake
Jamestown Reservoir
Jim Lake
Moon Lake
Mud Lake
Northwest Lake
Pearl Lake
Prairie Lake
Prairie Pothole
Runner Slough
School Lake
Spiritwood Lake
Trautman Slough
West Lake

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	1,007		—
1890	5,266		422.9%
1900	9,143		73.6%
1910	18,189		98.9%
1920	24,575		35.1%
1930	26,100		6.2%
1940	23,495		−10.0%
1950	24,158		2.8%
1960	25,137		4.1%
1970	23,550		−6.3%
1980	24,154		2.6%
1990	22,241		−7.9%
2000	21,908		−1.5%
2010	21,100		−3.7%
2020	21,593		2.3%
2023 (est.)	21,392	^[7]	−0.9%
U.S. Decennial Census^[8] 1790-1960^[9] 1900-1990^[10] 1990-2000^[11] 2010-2020^[1]

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 21,392 people, 9,084 households, and 5,178 families in the county.^[12] The population density was 9.7 inhabitants per square mile (3.7/km²) There were 10,374 housing units.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 21,100 people, 8,931 households, and 5,255 families in the county. The population density was 9.5 inhabitants per square mile (3.7/km²). There were 9,862 housing units at an average density of 4.4 per square mile (1.7/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.6% white, 1.4% American Indian, 0.7% black or African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 0.5% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.7% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 56.5% were German, 27.6% were Norwegian, 7.2% were Irish, 6.0% were Russian, 5.2% were English, and 2.4% were American.

Of the 8,931 households, 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.3% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.2% were non-families, and 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.79. The median age was 42.0 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,620 and the median income for a family was $60,171. Males had a median income of $40,365 versus $27,549 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,307. About 6.3% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.5% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Communities

Cities

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Bloom
Clementsville
Durupt
Fried
Kloze
Millarton
Sharlow
Sydney
Vashti

Townships

Politics

Stutsman County voters have been reliably Republican for several decades. In no national election since 1964 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate.

United States presidential election results for Stutsman County, North Dakota^[13]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	6,994	70.23%	2,676	26.87%	289	2.90%
2016	6,718	66.15%	2,498	24.60%	939	9.25%
2012	5,685	59.48%	3,585	37.51%	288	3.01%
2008	5,499	56.20%	4,056	41.46%	229	2.34%
2004	6,517	64.38%	3,438	33.97%	167	1.65%
2000	5,488	60.19%	3,067	33.64%	563	6.17%
1996	3,784	44.04%	3,589	41.77%	1,220	14.20%
1992	4,039	40.39%	3,313	33.13%	2,649	26.49%
1988	5,375	55.59%	4,214	43.58%	80	0.83%
1984	6,591	64.57%	3,495	34.24%	122	1.20%
1980	6,545	63.86%	2,573	25.10%	1,131	11.04%
1976	5,653	52.44%	4,883	45.30%	244	2.26%
1972	6,269	62.51%	3,589	35.79%	170	1.70%
1968	5,162	56.21%	3,532	38.46%	490	5.34%
1964	3,990	42.12%	5,463	57.66%	21	0.22%
1960	5,905	56.78%	4,481	43.09%	13	0.13%
1956	5,718	59.85%	3,825	40.04%	11	0.12%
1952	6,713	67.70%	3,156	31.83%	47	0.47%
1948	4,208	52.88%	3,415	42.92%	334	4.20%
1944	4,220	56.20%	3,243	43.19%	46	0.61%
1940	5,634	58.92%	3,897	40.76%	31	0.32%
1936	2,725	29.09%	5,564	59.39%	1,080	11.53%
1932	2,577	29.03%	6,182	69.63%	119	1.34%
1928	4,782	55.07%	3,873	44.60%	29	0.33%
1924	3,952	56.68%	463	6.64%	2,558	36.68%
1920	5,531	77.41%	1,394	19.51%	220	3.08%
1916	1,664	45.68%	1,846	50.67%	133	3.65%
1912	757	28.30%	1,100	41.12%	818	30.58%
1908	1,777	55.67%	1,344	42.11%	71	2.22%
1904	1,856	78.25%	453	19.10%	63	2.66%
1900	1,077	59.11%	711	39.02%	34	1.87%