701 Area Code 🌍☎️

Fargo is the most populous city in North Dakota with a population of 125,990 at the 2020 census and an estimated 136,285 in 2024, serving as the county seat of Cass County and core of the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area with 248,591 residents. Founded in 1871 on the Red River of the North floodplain, the city was originally named Centralia before being renamed after Wells Fargo founder William Fargo and became known as the "Gateway to the West" following the Northern Pacific Railroad's arrival. Fargo recovered quickly from a devastating fire on June 7, 1893 that destroyed 31 blocks, with 246 new brick buildings constructed within a year, and later became famous as the Midwest's "divorce capital" during the 1880s due to lenient divorce laws. The city developed into a major automotive hub, hosting the Pence Automobile Company which distributed 29% of all Buicks in 1905 and a Ford assembly plant that operated from its founding through 1956, while North Dakota State University, originally founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890, became a major educational institution. Fargo is a cultural, retail, healthcare, and industrial center for southeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, with growth accelerated by the construction of Interstates 29 and 94 and the 1972 West Acres Shopping Center, North Dakota's largest shopping mall. Bismarck is the capital and second-most populous city of North Dakota, with a population of 73,622 at the 2020 census and an estimated 77,772 in 2024, serving as the county seat of Burleigh County and the economic hub of south-central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota. Founded in 1872 on the east bank of the Missouri River at Missouri Crossing, the city was renamed Bismarck in 1873 by Northern Pacific Railway officials in honor of German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to attract German settlers and investment, making it the only U.S. state capital named for a foreign statesman. Bismarck became North Dakota's capital when the state was admitted to the Union in 1889, having previously served as the territorial capital since 1883, and the city experienced rapid growth as a freight-shipping center after gold was discovered in the nearby Black Hills of South Dakota in 1874. The North Dakota State Capitol in central Bismarck employs more than 4,600 state workers, while the city's economy is anchored by government, retail, and healthcare sectors, including two major hospitals and shopping centers like Kirkwood Mall. Located across the Missouri River from Mandan, named after the historic Native American tribe that inhabited the area for thousands of years, Bismarck's metropolitan area has a population of 133,626 and was ranked as the seventh fastest-growing small city in the United States by Forbes in 2014. Grand Forks is the third-most populous city in North Dakota with a 2020 census population of 59,166, serving as the county seat of Grand Forks County and forming a metropolitan area with East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Located on the western banks of the Red River of the North in the Red River Valley, the city was originally called Les Grandes Fourches by French fur traders before being platted by steamboat captain Alexander Griggs in 1875 and incorporated on February 22, 1881. The city's economy has evolved from early dependence on agriculture and wheat farming to include higher education, defense, health care, manufacturing, food processing, and scientific research, anchored by institutions like the University of North Dakota, established in 1883, and Grand Forks Air Force Base, selected for construction in 1954. The city is served by Grand Forks International Airport and hosts major venues including the Alerus Center, Ralph Engelstad Arena, Empire Arts Center, and Chester Fritz Auditorium. Grand Forks sits in a flood-prone area of the flat Red River Valley and was devastated by the major Red River Flood of 1997.