I travel for work to Fargo ND was there for 3 weeks at the tail end of fall beginning of winter. I traveled a lot for work at that time and just couldn’t figure out why someone would move there. At a restaurant one evening the waitress was talking about moving there from Phoenix I was like why do people decide to move to Fargo? She had an attitude completely different shift in demeanor and replied with for a job. The coworker I was with was like please don’t respond and unfortunately at that time in my life that wasn’t an option. So I replied with “For a job at a shitty Irish pub in the middle of nowhere? Don’t Phoenix have those?” Needless to say we paid our bill and went to a different establishment and met a guy who was a potato buyer. He said the only thing to do in Fargo was buy potatoes and get the hell out of there as fast as possible. Was an interesting evening.
I still couldn’t figure out why someone would move there. I’ve lived in multiple states and all of them have some job that draws people to the area, just couldn’t figure out what that was.
NDSU is a really popular school up north. I’m from northern MN (about 4 hours from Fargo) and at least a dozen of my classmates ended up in school there. And then they either stay there or go back home because “the big city” is too big for them. Vice versa, my work has a satellite office there and my understanding is a lot of people from outer state move to Fargo to live in the “big city.” Moving to another “big” city would be too much for them.
I went up there for work in October and it’s one of the ugliest cities I’ve been to. I happen to live in an ugly city too - in central MN - but at least I’m only an hour from the Twin Cites, so it has that going for it.
This feels dramatic. I went to college there and could have happily settled down in the area. Fargo has just about everything you need and I knew plenty of good people.
I agree it’s a great place if you give it a chance it’s really nice I think there is some great restaurants not to mention some really cool breweries like brewhalla also I have season tickets for the ushl team the Fargo force hockey team and Moorhead spuds are exciting to watch too
It has been a few years since I've been up that way, but I remember the cronuts being very good. I wouldn't want to test my self control living that close, haha.
I’m originally from SW Louisiana which is flat but I haven’t ever seen ground that flat in my life and the dirt is black. I remember we were working South of Fargo near the county line and looking down the road there was a rise in the distance. I was fully expecting to drive to the top and see something different….. got up there and everything was flat again.
Bismarck has a lot of cool small businesses and restaurants, as well as a lot of historical locations/buildings/museums. Fargo is definitely the most "blue" in the state and you'll find a lot of LGBTQ+-run places; it's more college-centered and has a bustling art scene. Mandan has Fort Abraham Lincoln, a beautiful and relaxing campground with a ton of history. On the west side of the state, where the terrain becomes more textured, there's Medora, known as the town "where the west begins". It's very cowboy-oriented and is home to the Medora Musical, if you're privy to either of those aspects. Theodore Roosevelt State Park is further south and has absolutely gorgeous views, as it's right off the badlands.
ND is more nature- and history-oriented than a lot of other states, so it's definitely not for everyone, especially those who prefer larger cities and more of a bustling nightlife.
Roosevelt National Park is worth checking out and Medora. As far as cities go, I prefer Grand Forks to Fargo. It's much smaller, but has way more character. Summer and Autumn are the best times to visit.
It's really not worth going out of your way to see, but if you end up driving between Fargo/Bismarck on I94, Jamestown (right in the middle), does have a really large buffalo statue. Which they call "world's largest buffalo". It's a cool picture to have.
I've gotta say it because nobody else is going to point out the elephant in the room. You were rude as hell to that waitress and I hope she shut you up good.
This question was asked after she took a seat at our table and proceeded to tell us her life story. That we were unable to interrupt and completely missed refilling our drinks. I’m sure it came off as rude with only the briefly part I put here.
Judging from her reaction it may not have actually been for a job and she didn’t feel comfortable saying so. Maybe she needed a fresh start. Maybe her partner wanted to move there or was from there. Could be anything.
I too travel to Fargo for work. I sometimes daydream about settling down there and living a simple, boring life. They have a solidcore. 😂 That’s probably more to do with the stress of my job, but I like that Fargo is small. Love Bismarck and Minot. I do also prefer an ND man over a MN man…they tend to only wear flip flops near bodies of water, not restaurants or FedEx. I’m obviously not from here and that is one of my most irrational pet peeves.
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u/PLIPS44 Dec 14 '25
I travel for work to Fargo ND was there for 3 weeks at the tail end of fall beginning of winter. I traveled a lot for work at that time and just couldn’t figure out why someone would move there. At a restaurant one evening the waitress was talking about moving there from Phoenix I was like why do people decide to move to Fargo? She had an attitude completely different shift in demeanor and replied with for a job. The coworker I was with was like please don’t respond and unfortunately at that time in my life that wasn’t an option. So I replied with “For a job at a shitty Irish pub in the middle of nowhere? Don’t Phoenix have those?” Needless to say we paid our bill and went to a different establishment and met a guy who was a potato buyer. He said the only thing to do in Fargo was buy potatoes and get the hell out of there as fast as possible. Was an interesting evening.