Thinking of moving to North Dakota. any advice?

I live in upstate NY as of now. The restaurant I have worked at for almost 20 years is closing, and its pretty much the only thing that has kept me here.

There was a story on Drudge today about ND's low unemployment rate. That caught my eye as jobs here in NY are hard to come by.

So, i would love to hear any advice from those in the know. Where is it hopping? Where is the best place to live? Any inside knowledge or advice would be appreciated.

Who knows?
Maybe canole's, calzone's, cappicola and ziti may be untapped in ND.

reply to post by Bluesquid


North Dakota is currently experiencing what parts of Texas and Oklahoma went through in the 70’s: and oil boom. If you do move, make as much money as quickly as you can before the bust comes. This is what the history of boom economies teaches us.

If you don’t mind busting your hump, the oilfields pay pretty well and even when it goes bust, there will always be work for experienced drillers. Might be tough with no experience, but a good work ethic and a desire to learn will let you climb the ranks pretty quick. Better yet, start a business that caters to the oilfields. You say you were in food services, how about a good old fashioned roach coach?

Minot a pretty decent town by the way if you can handle the weather.

I live in South Dakota, and yes ND is a pretty decent place to live, Fargo is a booming city(connected to Moorhead MN basically) so its pretty big

but, it gets #in cold in ND, and you have very long winters I'm in Sioux Falls SD, its like 50-60 right now, but in ND its barely scraping 30*

My spot will be new mexico if things get worse.

reply to post by Bluesquid


Good luck in North Dakota. I was going to warn you about the cold weather but if you live in Upstate NY all I need to say is bring your winter clothes. I have visited that part of the country in the summer months and found it to be very nice and quite similar to Upstate NY.

I live in MN and have been to ND many times I like it there its great! I have friends that live there and they love it. MN is also a great place to live

Two words. Bring Scrabble.

Originally posted by Bluesquid
I live in upstate NY as of now. The restaurant I have worked at for almost 20 years is closing, and its pretty much the only thing that has kept me here.

There was a story on Drudge today about ND's low unemployment rate. That caught my eye as jobs here in NY are hard to come by.

So, i would love to hear any advice from those in the know. Where is it hopping? Where is the best place to live? Any inside knowledge or advice would be appreciated.

I did truckin' work out here on the farms. That was ok.
Good, hard-working people. Olde worlde in the minds and deeds out in the country, which is a LOT of ND and SD.

Winters are brutal, but the ND folk like it that way I think, keeps away the riff-raff who can't rough it out.
If you get up there, make sure your vehicle is 4WD...

Take a heavy coat, good winter boots & long underwear.

Oh yeah, mittens are warmer than gloves

You definitely have to be brave to move to ND.. never been there myself, but thread caught my eye.. I did try NM (abq area) last year, trying to get out of harm's way, but found it so alien to my east-coast sensibilities that I ran home with my tail between my legs after only 3 months...very little work, very distrusting people, rudeness and laziness abounded...just my experience of the whole thing anyway.. seemed like no one would give anyone else the time of day without trying to take them for a ride ... I spent my 3 months there with a major knot in my stomach and a feeling like I was in exactly the wrong place

In FL again now, which is certainly not a safe, decent or comfortable place, especially when given the state of affairs in the world - economy has been in the pits here for a long time and unemployment, gangs, robberies / home invasions, etc, are rampant.. I have come to a point where nowhere feels like a "good" place to go...but know that can't be true.. just my own dismay I suppose

I'm still a fan of the northeast - specifically new england where I grew up - though winters there are difficult too and it's hard to get far enough from cities to feel truly safe..

North Dakota is a good choice, it rests in a very geologically stable area, and there is plenty of wild game, lots of untapped land, and is generally considered by many to be a great place for survivalists if the SHTF

The MN/ND/SD area is hard to beat actually... the people are always willing to help you out. Most people are level headed and dont like getting caught up in the rif raf of the general public.

weather isnt even that bad, you get use to it... and if you buy land in ND... good chance you'll hit oil some day haha.

I don't know if ND would be a good place to be if/when the SHTF, but there's no question that there are a lot of jobs there. The oil boom is changing the landscape in all respects, and there's both pros and cons to that.

While a boom inevitably leads to a bust, the Bakken oil boom is going to last a long time, like twenty years at least. As, as oil gets more expensive, it'll be more profitable to frack and extract the oil.

I've thought about heading up there too, and I've looked into it a bit. Ideally, you'd want to secure a job and housing before you go. But that's not always possible. It's an excellent idea to look into it though. You will at least learn a lot about the business, the jobs, what's going on in the region, etc.

All types of jobs are available, not just oil field jobs. Truck drivers, particularly those with Class A/Hazmat certs are in great demand. Some companies provide training for that too.

If you're not attached to where you are, and jobs are scarce, why not check it out at least. What do you have to lose?

Here are some sites I found that were helpful.

www.jobsnd.com...
www.bakkenblog.com...
www.bakkendispatch.com...

Good luck!

Jesus H Christ! North Dakota is flat and butts up against Canada. It is much colder than New York State and a lot warmer in the summer with horrendous humidity.

North Dakota's economy is booming. There is one particular town in the oil fields area that went from something like 2,000 people to 10,000 people in just ONE year.

New York could learn a lesson from North Dakota and allow fracking but Gov. Cuomo is too stupid. It would turn around the lagging economy upstate.

Ah, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a very nice park. Make sure you and friends (friends along for safety) wade across the river (very very muddy in parts, I got stuck knee deep climbing out of it). But well worth the trip, because once on the other side you can climb the amazing hills and wander the badlands. Snakes and buffalo and coyote's and lots more. Visited it twice, and once lived in there for almost a week, a nice nature experience.

from what ive heard from some of my tennants that have lived in montana then moved to nd have said while yes there are jobs there is verylittle housing and they tend to gouge you on the price,my last tennant that moved there brought an rv with him as they are selling for 2x as much as in other states due to the lack of housing

so if your gonna go to ND bring an rv or trailer home to hold ya off tell ya find a place then tell that thing and make a good deal of money on it

Op, did you move to ND? I live here in ND, and I am interested in hearing how it went for you if you did.

reply to post by Loki


Careful that "untapped" land is not on a Native American Reservation!