Steele County, North Dakota

Steele County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,798, and was estimated to be 1,797 in 2025,

History

The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on June 2, 1883, with territories partitioned from Griggs and Traill counties. It was not organized at that time but was attached to Traill for administrative and judicial purposes. It was named for businessman Edward H. Steele, who had pushed for its creation.

On June 13, 1883, the county organization was affected and Steele County was detached from Traill County; Sherbrooke, North Dakota was chosen as the county seat. In 1897 the town of Finley was founded, and by 1919 its growth had eclipsed Sherbrooke to the point that the county seat was transferred to Finley. The county's boundaries have been unchanged since its creation.

thumb|Outline map of Steele County, North Dakota, 1911

Geography

The Sheyenne River flows south near and into the county's west boundary line. The Goose River flows southeast through the northeastern part of the county. The terrain consists of rolling hills dotted with lakes and ponds. The area is devoted to agriculture. The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is near its northwestern corner, at ASL.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.46%) is water. It is the 50th largest county in North Dakota by total area.

Major highways

25px North Dakota Highway 32
25px North Dakota Highway 38
25px North Dakota Highway 200

Adjacent counties

Grand Forks County - north
Traill County - east
Cass County - southeast
Barnes County - southwest
Griggs County - west
Nelson County - northwest

Lakes

Source:

| align-fn = center

| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010–2020

As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 731 estimated households in Steele County with an average of 2.37 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $80,313. Approximately 13.3% of the county's population lives at or below the poverty line. Steele County has an estimated 59.7% employment rate, with 29.6% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 94.5% holding a high school diploma.

The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (98.6%), Spanish (0.0%), Indo-European (1.4%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.0%), and Other (0.1%).

Steele County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="font-size: 95%;"

! Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic)

! Pop. 1980 !! Pop. 1990 !! Pop. 2000 !! Pop. 2010 !!

| White alone (NH)

| 3,094 (99.61%) || 2,411 (99.63%) || 2,220 (98.32%) || 1,916 (97.01%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |1,721 (95.72%)

| Black or African American alone (NH)

| 2 (0.06%) || 0 (0.00%) || 1 (0.04%) || 3 (0.15%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |3 (0.17%)

| Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

| 1 (0.03%) || 2 (0.08%) || 14 (0.62%) || 23 (1.16%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |7 (0.39%)

| Asian alone (NH)

| 6 (0.19%) || 2 (0.08%) || 1 (0.04%) || 2 (0.10%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |0 (0.00%)

| Pacific Islander alone (NH)

| — || — || 0 (0.00%) || 0 (0.00%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |0 (0.00%)

| Other race alone (NH)

| 0 (0.00%) || 0 (0.00%) || 1 (0.04%) || 1 (0.05%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |0 (0.00%)

| Mixed race or multiracial (NH)

| — || — || 17 (0.75%) || 10 (0.51%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |31 (1.72%)

| Hispanic or Latino (any race)

| 3 (0.10%) || 5 (0.21%) || 4 (0.18%) || 20 (1.01%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |36 (2.00%)

| Total

| 3,106 (100.00%) || 2,420 (100.00%) || 2,258 (100.00%) || 1,975 (100.00%) || style='background: #ffffe6; |1,798 (100.00%)

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,798, 788 households, and 515 families residing in the county. Of the residents, 21.7% were under the age of 18 and 24.4% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 48.4 years. For every 100 females there were 114.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 117.1 males.

There were 788 households, of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 14.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. Of those units, 27.8% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 81.9% were owner-occupied and 18.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 15.6%.

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 1,975 people, 864 households, and 589 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 1,171 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.57% White, 0.15% African American, 1.16% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from some other races and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.01% of the population.

In terms of ancestry, 60.0% were Norwegian, 35.2% were German, 5.4% were Irish, and 1.0% were American.

There were 864 households, 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.8% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 47.7 years.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,191 and the median income for a family was $54,625. Males had a median income of $36,588 versus $25,648 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,728. About 4.3% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.

Population by decade

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Communities

Cities

Finley (county seat)
Hope
Luverne
Sharon

Unincorporated communities

Source: (original county seat; now mostly uninhabited)

Townships

Beaver Creek
Broadlawn
Carpenter
Colgate
Easton
Edendale
Enger
Finley
Franklin
Golden Lake
Greenview
Hugo
Melrose
Newburgh
Primrose
Riverside
Sharon
Sherbrooke
Westfield
Willow Lake

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"

|+ Township Numbers and Range Numbers

! scope="col" | Range 57

! scope="col" | Range 56

! scope="col" | Range 55

! scope="col" | Range 54

! scope="col" | Township 148

|| Sharon

|| Westfield

|| Beaver Creek

|| Newburgh

! scope="col" | Township 147

|| Franklin

|| Finley

|| Golden Lake

|| Enger

! scope="col" | Township 146

|| Greenview

|| Easton

|| Sherbrooke

|| Primrose

! scope="col" | Township 145

|| Riverside

|| Melrose

|| Hugo

|| Edendale

! scope="col" | Township 144

|| Willow Lake

|| Carpenter

|| Colgate

|| Broadlawn

Politics

Steele County was a Democratic-leaning swing county in presidential elections until 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by nearly 20 points, an almost total flip from Barack Obama's 20 point win in 2008. In 2020, Joe Biden fared even worse despite a national increase for the Democratic Party from 2016. He was the first Democrat to win without the county since John F. Kennedy in 1960, and had the lowest proportion of the county's vote of any winning Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Since 1964 Steele County has favored the Democratic presidential candidate in 64% of elections.

Education

School districts include:

Dakota Prairie Public School District 1
Finley-Sharon Public School District 19
Griggs County Central School District 18
Hatton Public School District 7
Hope-Page School District 85 (merger of Hope Public School District 10 and Page Public School District 80)
May-Port CG Public School District 14
Northwood Public School District 129

Former districts:

Hope Public School District 10
Page Public School District 80

References

External links

Steele County – official website
Steele County map, North Dakota DOT