North Dakota is a state situated in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bounded by Canada to the north, Minnesota towards the east, the state of South Dakota to the south and the state of Montana to the west. The state of North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area within the U.S. It is also the third least populated, with 672,591 people based on the 2010 census. North Dakota was carved out of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union on November 2, the year 1889, simultaneously with the state of South Dakota.
The state capital is Bismarck and the biggest city is Fargo. The primary public universities are situated within Grand Forks, Fargo and Dickinson. The U.S. Air Force operates Air Force Bases at Grand Forks AFB and Minot AFB.
The state has had a fairly strong and vibrant economy for more than a decade, with rates of unemployment being lower than the national average, population and job growth, and low housing vacancies. The Bakken oil shale fields in the western region of North Dakota have played a huge role in the growth of the economy, together with a real growth in the sectors of service and technology. Flooding in June 2011 has caused extensive damage to Minot and threatened Fargo, the largest city.
In the state of North Dakota, agriculture is the biggest business, with food processing and petroleum also being main state businesses. In 2005, North Dakota's economy had a gross domestic product of $24 billion. The per capita income in the year 2006 was $33,034, ranked 29th within the United States. The three-year median household income from the years 2002 to 2004 was $39,594, ranking 37th in the United States. The state of North Dakota is also the only state with a state owned flour mill, the North Dakota Mill and a state owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota within Bismarck and Elevator in Grand Forks.
As of the month of September the year 2010, North Dakota's unemployment rate is the lowest in the US at 3.7% and it never touched 5 percent ever since the year 1987, the state of North Dakota with the country's lowest unemployment rate. At end of the year 2010, the state per capita income was rank in 17th of the nation, the largest increase of whatever state in a decade from rank 38th.
The state of North Dakota is the largest producer in the United States of many cereal grains including barley, durum wheat, hard red spring wheat, oats, and combined wheat of all types. It is the second leading producer of buckwheat at 20%. As of 2007, corn became North Dakota's biggest crop produced, though only 2% of U.S. production.
Energy is another main industry within the state, with the states Lignite coal reserves in Western North Dakota produces 90 percent of the electricity consumed, while also providing coal to other nearby states. The state of North Dakota has the 2nd biggest lignite coal production in the U.S.