Traill County, North Dakota

Traill County
Traill County
County
	Traill County Courthouse
	Location within the U.S. state of North Dakota
	North Dakota's location within the U.S.
	Coordinates: 47°27′N 97°11′W / 47.45°N 97.18°W
Country	United States
State	North Dakota
Founded	January 12, 1875 (created); February 23, 1875 (organized)
Named for	Walter John Strickland Traill
Seat	Hillsboro
Largest city	Mayville
Area
• Total	863 sq mi (2,240 km2)
• Land	862 sq mi (2,230 km2)
• Water	0.6 sq mi (2 km2) 0.07%
Population (2020)
• Total	7,997
• Estimate (2022)	7,958
• Density	9.3/sq mi (3.6/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	http://www.co.traill.nd.us

Traill County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census listed the population at 7,997.^[1] Its county seat is Hillsboro,^[2] and its largest city is Mayville.

History

The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on January 12, 1875, with areas partitioned from Burbank (now Barnes), Cass, and Grand Forks counties. It was named for Walter John Strickland Traill, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company and son of Canadian pioneer Catharine Parr Traill.^[3] The first county building was a small single-story building in Caledonia. Several replacement courthouses were built during the late 19th century and several votes to move the county seat to Mayville narrowly failed. Efforts to move the county seat to Hillsboro were more successful, and all county records were moved there in 1890.^[4] Construction of the current county building began in 1905; it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.^[5]

The county boundaries were altered in 1881 and in 1883. It has maintained its current configuration since 1883.^[3]^[6]

Geography

Traill County lies on the east side of North Dakota. Its east boundary line abuts the west boundary line of the state of Minnesota (across the Red River). The Goose River flows eastward through the center of the county to discharge into the Red. The northward-flowing Red River forms the eastern boundary line of the county on its way to the Hudson Bay, and the Elk River flows south-southeastward through the southwestern part of the county. The county terrain consists of rolling hills, devoted to agriculture.^[7] The terrain slopes to the east and north, with its highest point on the lower western boundary line, at 1,201 ft (366 m) ASL.^[8] The county has a total area of 863 square miles (2,240 km²), of which 862 square miles (2,230 km²) is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²) (0.07%) is water.^[9]

Major highways

Airports

Hillsboro Municipal Airport (3H4)
Mayville Municipal Airport (D56)

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	4,123		—
1890	10,217		147.8%
1900	13,107		28.3%
1910	12,545		−4.3%
1920	12,210		−2.7%
1930	12,600		3.2%
1940	12,300		−2.4%
1950	11,359		−7.7%
1960	10,583		−6.8%
1970	9,571		−9.6%
1980	9,624		0.6%
1990	8,752		−9.1%
2000	8,477		−3.1%
2010	8,121		−4.2%
2020	7,997		−1.5%
2022 (est.)	7,958	^[10]	−0.5%
U.S. Decennial Census^[11] 1790-1960^[12] 1900-1990^[13] 1990-2000^[14] 2010-2020^[1]

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, there were 7,997 people.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 8,121 people, 3,394 households, and 2,150 families in the county. The population density was 9.42 people per square mile (3.64 people/km²). There were 3,780 housing units at an average density of 4.39 units per square mile (1.69/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 96.2% white, 0.8% American Indian, 0.5% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.6% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 53.2% were Norwegian, 38.1% were German, 5.9% were Irish, and 2.6% were American.

Of the 3,394 households, 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 6.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 36.7% were non-families, and 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.88. The median age was 42.6 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,290 and the median income for a family was $60,054. Males had a median income of $39,846 versus $28,378 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,340. About 4.6% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Communities

Cities

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Cummings

Townships

Belmont
Bingham
Blanchard
Bloomfield
Bohnsack
Buxton
Caledonia
Eldorado
Elm River
Ervin
Galesburg
Garfield
Greenfield
Herberg
Hillsboro
Kelso
Lindaas
Mayville
Morgan
Norman
Norway
Roseville
Stavanger
Viking
Wold

Politics

Traill County voters lean Republican. In only two national elections since 1964 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate.

United States presidential election results for Traill County, North Dakota^[15]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	2,522	60.98%	1,493	36.10%	121	2.93%
2016	2,265	57.59%	1,241	31.55%	427	10.86%
2012	1,996	50.91%	1,811	46.19%	114	2.91%
2008	1,845	45.66%	2,136	52.86%	60	1.48%
2004	2,543	59.86%	1,651	38.87%	54	1.27%
2000	2,392	58.17%	1,512	36.77%	208	5.06%
1996	1,820	45.03%	1,822	45.08%	400	9.90%
1992	2,019	44.34%	1,638	35.98%	896	19.68%
1988	2,562	56.20%	1,940	42.55%	57	1.25%
1984	3,037	64.70%	1,580	33.66%	77	1.64%
1980	3,092	60.91%	1,428	28.13%	556	10.95%
1976	2,800	53.32%	2,352	44.79%	99	1.89%
1972	3,118	61.40%	1,892	37.26%	68	1.34%
1968	2,692	57.55%	1,740	37.20%	246	5.26%
1964	2,312	46.91%	2,614	53.03%	3	0.06%
1960	3,218	60.68%	2,084	39.30%	1	0.02%
1956	3,090	61.04%	1,969	38.90%	3	0.06%
1952	3,884	72.05%	1,484	27.53%	23	0.43%
1948	2,328	52.00%	1,874	41.86%	275	6.14%
1944	2,370	48.68%	2,479	50.91%	20	0.41%
1940	2,882	53.47%	2,476	45.94%	32	0.59%
1936	1,807	34.29%	2,780	52.76%	682	12.94%
1932	1,893	37.31%	3,112	61.33%	69	1.36%
1928	3,638	71.36%	1,447	28.38%	13	0.26%
1924	2,596	56.64%	234	5.11%	1,753	38.25%
1920	3,666	86.00%	523	12.27%	74	1.74%
1916	1,423	64.62%	664	30.15%	115	5.22%
1912	365	21.05%	507	29.24%	862	49.71%
1908	1,207	66.03%	490	26.81%	131	7.17%
1904	1,566	82.99%	176	9.33%	145	7.68%
1900	1,537	76.13%	409	20.26%	73	3.62%