City · Morton County, North Dakota

Mandan, North Dakota

Mandan is a city in Morton County, North Dakota, part of the Bismarck, ND metro area. It has 24,522 residents. Mandan, North Dakota has a quality-of-life score of 76 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,746 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Dakota it ranks #48 of 56 cities and towns. It ranks best on loneliness (low), food environment index (high) and high school diploma or higher (high). It ranks worst on distance to an airport (high), suicide rate (high) and mental health providers (low).

76High

Quality-of-life score: #3,746 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Dakota: #48 of 56 in ND
Population: 24,522 (2020-2024)
Land area: 14 mi²
Density: 1,814.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 3849900

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety35#10,191/15,637
Economy62#5,896/15,631
Housing85#2,259/14,977
Health58#6,482/15,609
Healthcare26#11,532/15,650
Environment76#3,672/15,453
Education84#2,574/15,649
Infrastructure61#6,139/15,650
Community94#879/15,651
Leisure & amenities69#4,911/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Mandan, North Dakota ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Morton County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Loneliness · low29.0%
100/100North Dakota 29.8%United States 33.2%2023Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimate
Food environment index · high9.5
97/100North Dakota 8.9United States 7.62019 & 2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMorton County value
High school diploma or higher · high95.2%
97/100North Dakota 94.0%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Rent-burdened households · low45.6%
96/100North Dakota 38.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Average commute time · low17.6 min
95/100North Dakota 17.9 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Rent as share of income · low27.8%
94/100North Dakota 25.0%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071

Weaknesses

Distance to an airport · high197 mi
1/100North Dakota 136 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauMorton County value
Suicide rate · high32.5 /100k
2/100North Dakota 19.8 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataMorton County value
Mental health providers · low47 /100k
5/100North Dakota 261 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMorton County value
Preventable hospital stays · high4,073 /100k
8/100North Dakota 3,048 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMorton County value
Dentists · low27 /100k
8/100North Dakota 70 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteMorton County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high100 mi
10/100North Dakota 41 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauMorton County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
22,301 (2015-2019) → 24,522 (2020-2024)
+10%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedWorsening
4.6 /1k (2021) → 1.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−62%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
83.2% (2015-2019) → 91.8% (2020-2024)
+8.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
39.1% (2015-2019) → 45.6% (2020-2024)
+6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
24.2% (2015-2019) → 27.8% (2020-2024)
+3.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
High school diploma or higherImproving
91.8% (2015-2019) → 95.2% (2020-2024)
+3.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Mandan, North Dakota improved on 1 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 14 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+8.6 points83.2% → 91.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Mandan, North Dakota between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	18.4 min2015-2019	17.6 min2020-2024	−0.7 min	Within the margin of error	57%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.9%2015-2019	30.2%2020-2024	+1.3 points	Within the margin of error	37%
Broadband subscriptions	83.2%2015-2019	91.8%2020-2024	+8.6 points	Improved	53%
Child poverty rate	8.0%2015-2019	8.9%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Effective property tax rate	1.08%2015-2019	1.12%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	10%
High school diploma or higher	91.8%2015-2019	95.2%2020-2024	+3.4 points	Within the margin of error	72%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.6×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	48%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4422015-2019	0.4852020-2024	+0.043	Within the margin of error	20%
Median household income	$69,0142015-2019	$71,7802020-2024	+4%	Within the margin of error	10%
Poverty rate	8.2%2015-2019	9.8%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	28%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	24.2%2015-2019	27.8%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	29%
Rent-burdened households	39.1%2015-2019	45.6%2020-2024	+6.5 points	Within the margin of error	33%
Unemployment rate	2.3%2015-2019	1.5%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	6.5%2015-2019	7.4%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	36%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Mandan, North Dakota five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Mandan, North Dakota in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Mandan, North Dakota itself moved −7.3 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

24,522 residents (±32)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

10,465 households (±300)

Mandan, North Dakota
North Dakota share

Under $25k10%1,048
$25k–50k24%2,527
$50k–75k17%1,753

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

10,465 households (±300)

Mandan, North Dakota
North Dakota share

Own69%7,224
Rent31%3,241

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

13,733 workers (±506)

Mandan, North Dakota
North Dakota share

Drive alone78%10,713
Carpool9.2%1,257
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Bismarck, ND

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Morton County, the county holding most of Mandan's residents.

Morton County has 895 employer establishments, 262 for every 10,000 residents (1.06× the US rate of 248; 0.81× North Dakota's), with 10,964 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,167. The Census Bureau also counts 2,671 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 895; 2,671 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 262; US 248 · North Dakota 323
Paid employees: 10,964
Average annual pay: $57,167; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Morton County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	96	28.1	1.82×More than typical	556	$71,209	176
Truck transportation	45	13.2	2.61×More than typical	626	$33,784	74
Restaurants and other eating places	41	12	0.65×Fewer than typical	537	$21,750	7
Construction of buildings	39	11.4	1.51×More than typical	151	$60,497	71
Ambulatory health care services	37	10.8	0.52×Fewer than typical	389	$49,676	86
Lessors of real estate	35	10.3	0.83×About typical	89	$40,135	342
Building equipment contractors	31	9.1	1.51×More than typical	176	$75,705	20
Insurance agencies and brokerages	28	8.2	1.87×More than typical	70	$53,157	56
Services to buildings and dwellings	27	7.9	1.17×About typical	118	$41,093	166
Automotive repair and maintenance	25	7.3	1.46×More than typical	101	$50,307	34
Other specialty trade contractors	25	7.3	2.92×More than typical	81	$87,914	71
Religious organizations	24	7	1.27×More than typical	147	$21,728	—

Rank places for an industry Open Morton County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 34,105 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $19K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Mandan, North Dakota: $0.78 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $19K; −82% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.78; US $1,994
Sole-source: 10.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 28%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Agricultural Research Service$11.4K60%
Forest Service$3,22717%
National Park Service$2,79415%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$1,0385.5%
Rural Housing Service$3722.0%
Department of the Air Force$1710.9%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

31.4KFY2017
26.9KFY2018
33.2KFY2019
34KFY2020
58.7KFY2021
21.3KFY2022
17KFY2023
48.4K

Top industries (NAICS)

Other general purpose machinery manufacturing · 3339$5,15627%
Motor vehicle manufacturing · 3361$3,29517%
Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors · 2381$2,72614%
Agriculture, construction, and mining machinery manufacturing · 3331$2,68014%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$1,4147.4%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Mandan, North Dakota, so they do not add up across cities.

Mandan, North Dakota's figures are part of those of Morton County, ND ($1.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 1.3% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Mandan is mostly in Morton County.

See federal money in Morton County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Mandan, North Dakota is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Julie FedorchakR-ND · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 2.1%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Morton County90100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Bismarck, ND94

Other cities and towns in Morton County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3849900

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends