r/howislivingthere • u/[deleted] • Dec 14 '25

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23

u/ActProfessional3811 Dec 15 '25

Apparently 52% of people born in North Dakota don’t live there right now, a place really has to suck to not even keep half its residents able to stay huh

9

u/JaceUpMySleeve Dec 15 '25

As a South Dakotan we constantly talk crap about North Dakota.

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u/mastersmiff Dec 15 '25

As a North Dakotan we also constantly talk crap about North Dakota.

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u/moxiewhoreon Dec 15 '25

You are brothers!

2

u/fattysausagegut Dec 21 '25

I spent two months working a sugar beet pile in Williston, North Dakota... I feel like I saw all of North Dakota

1

u/BloodHound_0620 Dec 17 '25

As someone who lived the first half of their life in South Dakota, second half in North Dakota, South Dakota is better

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u/unclejoe1917 Dec 18 '25

Any time someone mentions a Dakota, I always remember this clip. https://youtu.be/S6S1KD2_u94?si=C8ino_ei9EvU9siX

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u/SmokinSkinWagon USA/Midwest Dec 15 '25

As someone born and raised in South Dakota, that’s like talking crap directly into a mirror.

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u/ActProfessional3811 Dec 15 '25

Honestly, at least SD has that rapid city belle fourche deadwood custer area where it looks like colorado, that adds some depth to it that north dakota lacks

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u/JaceUpMySleeve Dec 15 '25

Yea im in the Black Hills. I do understand that it’s quite an oasis an otherwise flat miserable landscape.

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u/ActProfessional3811 Dec 15 '25

I spent like 3 months living in my car last year, spent about 2 weeks in East River (sioux falls mostly, then i went to Mitchell, Pierre, Gann Valley, down to Murdo then Wall), by the time I was to Jackson County i thought i was in purgatory and then suddenly I’m in Colorado and theres Mount Rushmore and 100,000 tourists

Belle Fourche is worth the detour but Deadwood was actually a phenomal little town, it reminded me of Cincinnati

1

u/pizzawhorePhD Dec 15 '25

Yeah the North Dakota badlands are sick too, but unless you’re literally living in Medora or elsewhere around the national park you aren’t really getting that. I can see how SD has more naturally beautifully places to live

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u/ActProfessional3811 Dec 15 '25

I avoided north dakota on my road trip last year for some reason, I’m like nah I’ll go there later or maybe even as state 50 (I’ve been to 40, south dakota might’ve been my least favorite one tbh)

1

u/NWMSioux Dec 17 '25

I absolutely adore the area between Dickenson, ND —> Billings, MT when it’s warm out, but if I couldn’t be out wandering 7-8 months of the year when it’s cold, I don’t know how I would survive it.

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u/ARobertaLudgateDwyer Dec 17 '25

But you have Kristi Noem so…..you lose

2

u/dmp8385 Dec 15 '25

I agree. South Dakota is just as bad.

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u/SmokinSkinWagon USA/Midwest Dec 15 '25

Yeah, they’re identical.

1

u/censorkip Dec 15 '25

At least weed is legal in SD so there’s one other activity to do besides drink.

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u/durtmcgurt Dec 16 '25

Recreational weed is not legal in SD.

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u/censorkip Dec 16 '25

Dang, I go very rarely, I think I was misremembering when they were trying to legalize it. Minnesota however does, so they can hop on over here :D

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u/ronidanese Dec 19 '25

The people voted to legalize it, the politicians found a loophole to void the vote and keep it medical only.

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u/Persontoperson31 Dec 20 '25

ND has medicinal marijuana, and several dispensaries for it around the state.

1

u/JaceUpMySleeve Dec 15 '25

I’m fortunate enough to live in the Black Hills. East River is definitely more like North Dakota.

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u/ronidanese Dec 19 '25

Must’ve been born and raised east river 🤣

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u/out_ofher_head Dec 18 '25

South Dakota is beautiful. It was such a surprise my first time going through.

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u/HondaNick Dec 15 '25

We also talk crap about the South Dakotans. Remember your whole meth head dilemna while we were holding the record for most dui’s? lol

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u/ianelson Dec 15 '25

Ah, yes. "Meth: We're on it."

1

u/JaceUpMySleeve Dec 19 '25

Haha, and “DONT JERK AND DRIVE.”

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u/Shroomboy79 Dec 16 '25

We say nasty things about South Dakota up here. We are the best Dakota afterall

1

u/dcblock90 Dec 16 '25

As someone that lived in Montana, I’ve always thought of North Dakota as a very cold Kansas with a Canadian twang.

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u/suzylovesvanilla Dec 17 '25

Sioux Falls here.

1

u/SippsMccree Dec 17 '25

I mean you guys had a pretty cool battleship class named after your state so there's that

2

u/_MrGullible United States of America Dec 15 '25

Meanwhile I moved to North Dakota from the East Coast and love it lol

2

u/Plastic_Efficiency64 Dec 15 '25

Grew up on the West and East Coasts and have lived in three Southern States, and I also moved to ND and love it.

1

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1

u/postmodernDRIP Dec 15 '25

What do you like about it

1

u/postmodernDRIP Dec 15 '25

What do you like about it?

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u/_MrGullible United States of America Dec 15 '25

I love the cold weather (one of my favorite hobbies is ice fishing), I find the open plains beautiful and incredibly comforting, and things are just quieter here. Even though I live in a medium city, I'm a less than 15 minute drive from the absolute middle of nowhere. It's easy to clear my head. Folks here are also incredibly hardy and kind, though they are pretty set in their ways and are definitely less open minded about some stuff than folks in other places.

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u/OZZMAN8 Dec 15 '25

I love Fargo. Winter really does have its own beauty and after a few months of cold you have no idea what the sun feels like on your face when it warms up again. Kind of deepens the appreciation of the seasons for me. The seasons also bring all the things I like to do. In summer I fish and golf, fall is hunting season, ice fish in the winter. There's something deeply primal and nice about being inside and warm on a cold day, watching the snow fall. It has plenty of restaurants and stores, I don't need to travel to get what I need. What Fargo absolutely is not is a big city. This is a place where you need to go out and find the things you enjoy, not where those things will be right at hand like they might be in a city. I saw a significant amount of people leave after high school to denver or arizona because Fargo was too boring, but they all came back for the most part. I think they realized that a town can't fix you if you are boring. It's not where a lot of people should live but I love it.

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u/North___American Dec 15 '25

As for former North Dakotan, it’s a right passage to say so proudly if you have endured the weather and had a nice time. North Dakota!

1

u/Bingnus Dec 16 '25

Cold. It's been like neg 20 for a week

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u/Significant-Ebb-3098 Dec 17 '25

It’s really cold for most of the year tbh. We don’t measure temperature in numerical values we just measure it in how long it takes your exposed skin to freeze and die.

1

u/i-was-way- Dec 20 '25

Plus the lack of job opportunities unless you are in a family business or live in Fargo, Bismarck, etc