Cass County, North Dakota

Cass County
County
Cass County Courthouse in Fargo
Location within the U.S. state of North Dakota
North Dakota's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 46°55′37.211″N97°15′8.55″W / 46.92700306°N 97.2523750°W / 46.92700306; -97.2523750
Country	United States
State	North Dakota
Founded	October 27, 1873
Named for	George Washington Cass
Seat	Fargo
Largest city	Fargo
Area
• Total	1,767.811 sq mi (4,578.61 km2)
• Land	1,764.935 sq mi (4,571.16 km2)
• Water	2.876 sq mi (7.45 km2)  0.2%
Population  (2020)
• Total	184,525
• Estimate  (2023)	196,362
• Density	111.266/sq mi (42.960/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	At-large
Website	casscountynd.gov

Cass County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 184,525. ^[1] Cass County is the most populous county in North Dakota, accounting for nearly a quarter of the state's population. ^{[2] [3]} The county seat is Fargo, ^[4] the state's most populous city. The county is named for George Washington Cass, president of the Northern Pacific Railway from 1872 to 1875. It is the only Cass County in the United States that is not named after Lewis Cass.

Cass County is part of the Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Cass County was defined by action of the Dakota Territory legislature on January 4, 1873, and its organization was effected on October 27 of that year. It was named for railroad executive George Washington Cass (1810–1888). ^[5] Its boundaries were altered in 1875, and in 1961. ^{[6] [7]}

Geography

Cass 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 river. The Red River flows northward along the county's east boundary, on its way to Lake Winnipeg and Hudson Bay. The county's terrain consists of low rolling hills, devoted to agriculture except around developed areas. ^[8] Its terrain slopes to the north and east, with its highest point on the southwestern corner at 1,194 ft (364 m) ASL. ^[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,767.811 square miles (4,578.61 km²), of which 1,764.935 square miles (4,571.16 km²) is land and 2.876 square miles (7.45 km²) (0.2%) is water. ^[10]

Major highways

• Interstate 29
• Interstate 94
• U.S. Highway 10
• U.S. Highway 52
• U.S. Highway 81
• North Dakota Highway 10
• North Dakota Highway 18
• North Dakota Highway 38
• North Dakota Highway 46
• North Dakota Highway 294

Transit

• Amtrak Empire Builder ( Fargo station )
• Jefferson Lines
• MATBUS

Adjacent counties

• Traill County - north
• Norman County, Minnesota - northeast
• Clay County, Minnesota - east
• Richland County - southeast
• Ransom County - southwest
• Barnes County - west
• Steele County - northwest

Lakes

Cass County has the following lakes: ^[8]

• Brewer Lake
• Lake Bertha

Demographics

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1880	8,998		—
1890	19,613		118.0%
1900	28,625		45.9%
1910	33,935		18.6%
1920	41,477		22.2%
1930	48,735		17.5%
1940	52,849		8.4%
1950	58,877		11.4%
1960	66,947		13.7%
1970	73,653		10.0%
1980	88,247		19.8%
1990	102,874		16.6%
2000	123,138		19.7%
2010	149,778		21.6%
2020	184,525		23.2%
2023 (est.)	196,362	[11]	6.4%
U.S. Decennial Census [12] 1790-1960 [13] 1900-1990 [14] 1990-2000 [15] 2010-2020 [1]

As of the first quarter of 2024, the median home value in Cass County was $309,530, an increase of 2.7% from the prior year. ^[16]

As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 84,603 estimated households in Cass County with an average of 2.24 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $73,742. Approximately 9.9% of the county's population lives at or below the poverty line. Cass County has an estimated 75.2% employment rate, with 43.4% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 96.4% holding a high school diploma. ^[17]

The median age in the county was 32.6 years.

Cass County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.

Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic)	Pop. 1980 [18]	Pop. 1990 [19]	Pop. 2000 [20]	Pop. 2010 [21]	Pop. 2020 [22]
White alone (NH)	86,522 (98.05%)	99,986 (97.19%)	116,263 (94.42%)	135,530 (90.49%)	149,442 (80.99%)
Black or African American alone (NH)	141 (0.16%)	274 (0.27%)	978 (0.79%)	3,372 (2.25%)	12,761 (6.92%)
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	501 (0.57%)	918 (0.89%)	1,277 (1.04%)	1,681 (1.12%)	2,367 (1.28%)
Asian alone (NH)	392 (0.44%)	973 (0.95%)	1,543 (1.25%)	3,524 (2.35%)	6,034 (3.27%)
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	—	—	42 (0.03%)	49 (0.03%)	79 (0.04%)
Other race alone (NH)	176 (0.20%)	23 (0.02%)	96 (0.08%)	140 (0.09%)	459 (0.25%)
Mixed race or multiracial (NH)	—	—	1,421 (1.15%)	2,467 (1.65%)	7,201 (3.90%)
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	515 (0.58%)	700 (0.68%)	1,518 (1.23%)	3,015 (2.01%)	6,182 (3.35%)
Total	88,247 (100.00%)	102,874 (100.00%)	123,138 (100.00%)	149,778 (100.00%)	184,525 (100.00%)

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 184,525 people, 78,672 households, and 42,849 families residing in the county. ^[23] The population density was 104.6 inhabitants per square mile (40.4/km²). There were 85,397 housing units at an average density of 48.4 inhabitants per square mile (18.7/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 82.00% White, 7.03% African American, 1.42% Native American, 3.29% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 1.08% from some other races and 5.14% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.35% of the population. ^[24] 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18, 6.2% were under 5 years of age, and 13.2% were 65 and older.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 149,778 people, 63,899 households, and 35,215 families in the county. The population density was 84.9 inhabitants per square mile (32.8/km²). There were 67,938 housing units at an average density of 38.5 inhabitants per square mile (14.9/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 91.67% White, 2.29% African American, 1.22% Native American, 2.36% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.53% from some other races and 1.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 2.01% of the population.

In terms of ancestry, 45.4% were German, 35.8% were Norwegian, 9.2% were Irish, 6.3% were Swedish, and 1.7% were American.

Of the 63,899 households, 27.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.9% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 44.9% were non-families, and 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age was 31.5 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $47,600 and the median income for a family was $68,858. Males had a median income of $42,557 versus $31,916 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,184. About 5.8% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.0% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

Government

Cass County is governed by a board of commissioners elected to four-year terms. Other elected officials include the sheriff and state's attorney. Appointed officials include administrator, extension agent, director of tax equalization, finance auditor, highway engineer, human services officer, information technology coordinator, recorder, veterans service officer, and weed control officer.

District	Commissioner	In office since	Current term expires in
1st	Chad Peterson (Chair)	2012	2020
2nd	Rick Steen (vice chair)	2014	2022
3rd	Ken Pawluk	2019	2020
4th	Duane Breitling	2018	2022
5th	Mary Scherling	2012	2020

The current Sheriff is Jesse F. Jahner. Jahner has served as Sheriff of Cass County since January 2, 2019.

The voters of Cass County have historically tended to vote Republican. As recently as the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush carried Cass County with nearly 60 percent of the vote. However, in recent elections, the county has become more politically diverse and competitive, particularly in Fargo. In 2008, Democratic candidate Barack Obama won the majority of votes in Cass County, with a voting percentage very close to the percentage Obama received in the entire nation, while John McCain won the majority of votes in North Dakota. Mitt Romney's winning margin in 2012 over Obama in Cass County was 49.9% to 47%, while Donald Trump received 49.3% of votes in 2016, compared to 38.8% for Hillary Clinton and 11.9% for third-party candidates. In 2018, Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp achieved a 14-point lead in Eastern North Dakota, although the state as a whole soundly elected Republican Kevin Cramer.

In the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, Fargo falls into 9 districts: 10th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 27th, 41st and 44th-46th. In the House, it's represented by 7 Democrats and 11 Republicans, in Senate by 4 Democrats and 5 Republicans.

United States presidential election results for Cass County, North Dakota ^{[25] [26]}

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	47,873	52.69%	40,304	44.36%	2,674	2.94%
2020	42,619	49.53%	40,311	46.84%	3,123	3.63%
2016	39,816	49.26%	31,361	38.80%	9,644	11.93%
2012	36,855	49.90%	34,712	47.00%	2,288	3.10%
2008	32,566	45.34%	37,622	52.37%	1,646	2.29%
2004	39,619	59.39%	26,010	38.99%	1,082	1.62%
2000	33,536	56.85%	21,451	36.36%	4,008	6.79%
1996	24,238	48.02%	21,693	42.98%	4,540	9.00%
1992	25,312	47.65%	18,077	34.03%	9,727	18.31%
1988	26,699	54.34%	22,107	44.99%	331	0.67%
1984	29,221	61.35%	18,054	37.91%	354	0.74%
1980	23,886	54.76%	13,562	31.09%	6,172	14.15%
1976	22,583	54.53%	17,879	43.17%	949	2.29%
1972	21,770	59.96%	14,073	38.76%	463	1.28%
1968	15,240	55.88%	10,819	39.67%	1,212	4.44%
1964	12,972	45.25%	15,674	54.67%	23	0.08%
1960	17,498	58.89%	12,213	41.11%	0	0.00%
1956	16,932	63.25%	9,821	36.69%	17	0.06%
1952	18,094	66.17%	9,193	33.62%	57	0.21%
1948	11,430	52.34%	9,937	45.51%	469	2.15%
1944	10,661	50.37%	10,390	49.09%	116	0.55%
1940	12,567	51.11%	11,911	48.45%	108	0.44%
1936	7,632	35.22%	12,400	57.22%	1,638	7.56%
1932	8,937	43.82%	11,094	54.40%	363	1.78%
1928	12,480	66.18%	6,315	33.49%	63	0.33%
1924	9,906	65.86%	1,352	8.99%	3,783	25.15%
1920	10,735	77.02%	2,817	20.21%	386	2.77%
1916	3,093	46.68%	3,303	49.85%	230	3.47%
1912	1,316	26.22%	1,814	36.14%	1,889	37.64%
1908	3,681	62.53%	2,000	33.97%	206	3.50%
1904	3,788	80.41%	609	12.93%	314	6.67%
1900	3,485	65.68%	1,636	30.83%	185	3.49%
1896	3,050	58.80%	2,089	40.27%	48	0.93%
1892	2,022	53.98%	0	0.00%	1,724	46.02%

Communities

Cities

• Alice
• Amenia
• Argusville
• Arthur
• Ayr
• Briarwood
• Buffalo
• Casselton
• Davenport
• Enderlin
• Fargo (County seat)
• Frontier
• Gardner
• Grandin
• Harwood
• Horace
• Hunter
• Kindred
• Leonard
• Mapleton
• North River
• Oxbow
• Page
• Prairie Rose
• Reile's Acres
• Tower City
• West Fargo

Census-designated places

• Brooktree Park
• Embden
• Erie
• Wheatland

Unincorporated communities

• Absaraka
• Chaffee
• Wild Rice
• Prosper

Townships

• Addison
• Amenia
• Arthur
• Ayr
• Barnes
• Bell
• Berlin
• Buffalo
• Casselton
• Clifton
• Cornell
• Davenport
• Dows
• Durbin
• Eldred
• Empire
• Erie
• Everest
• Fargo
• Gardner
• Gill
• Gunkel
• Harmony
• Harwood
• Highland
• Hill
• Howes
• Hunter
• Kinyon
• Lake
• Leonard
• Maple River
• Mapleton
• Noble
• Normanna
• Page
• Pleasant
• Pontiac
• Raymond
• Reed
• Rich
• Rochester
• Rush River
• Stanley
• Tower
• Walburg
• Warren
• Watson
• Wheatland
• Wiser

Education

School districts include: ^[27]

K-12:

• Central Cass Public School District 17
• Enderlin Area Public School District 24
• Fargo Public Schools
• Hope-Page Public Schools
• Kindred Public School District 2
• Maple Valley Public School District
• May-Port CG Public School District 14
• Northern Cass Public School District 97
• West Fargo Public Schools

Elementary:

• Mapleton Public School District 7

Former districts:

• Page Public School District 80 ^[27] - Consolidated with Hope district in 2020 ^[28]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Cass County, North Dakota

References

1. "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
2. Based on the 2020 Census: 184,525 / 779,094 (ND pop.) = 23.68%
3. "Top 100 Counties by Growth, 2017". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved December 3, 2018.^{[ dead link ‍]}
4. "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
5. Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the US. Govt. Print. Off. p.  71.
6. "Dakota Territory, South Dakota, and North Dakota: Individual County Chronologies". Dakota Territory Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. The Newberry Library. 2006. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
7. "County History". North Dakota.gov. The State of North Dakota. Archived from the original on February 2, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
8. Cass County ND Google Maps (accessed February 16, 2019)
9. ""Find an Altitude/Cass County ND" Google Maps (accessed February 16, 2019)". Archived from the original on May 21, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
10. "2024 County Gazetteer Files – North Dakota". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
11. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023" . Retrieved March 18, 2024.
12. "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
13. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
14. Forstall, Richard L., ed. (March 27, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
15. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
16. "County Median Home Price". National Association of Realtors . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
17. "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Cass County, North Dakota". www.census.gov. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
18. "Cass County, North Dakota — Population by Race". CensusScope. Retrieved November 8, 2024.
19. "Cass County, North Dakota — Population by Race". CensusScope. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
20. "P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2000: DEC Summary File 1 – Cass County, North Dakota". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved November 8, 2024.
21. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Cass County, North Dakota". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
22. "P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race – 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) – Cass County, North Dakota". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved November 10, 2024.
23. "US Census Bureau, Table P16: Household Type". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
24. "How many people live in Cass County, North Dakota". USA Today. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
25. Leip, David. "Atlas of US Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
26. The leading "other" candidate, Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, received 1,316 votes, while Socialist candidate Eugene Debs received 164 votes, Prohibition candidate Eugene Chafin received 56 votes.
27. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Cass County, ND" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved July 24, 2022. - Text list - 2010 map and 2010 text list - Hope-Page formed in 2020, but both the 2010 and 2020 maps show Page as a separate district
28. "Enrollment History Public School Districts 2009-2021". North Dakota Department of Public Instruction . Retrieved August 19, 2021. - Check the 2020-2021 spreadsheet, which lists a single "Hope Page" school district, and compare with all previous sheets which show them as two separate school districts.

External links

• Cass County – official website
• Cass County maps, Sheet 1 Archived October 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine (northern) and Sheet 2 Archived October 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine (southern), North Dakota DOT

46°56′N97°15′W / 46.93°N 97.25°W / 46.93; -97.25