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Fargo–Moorhead Metropolitan Area
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Fargo, ND–MN Metropolitan Statistical Area
Downtown Fargo
Interactive Map of Fargo–Wahpeton, ND–MN CSA   City of Fargo   City of Moorhead   Fargo, ND–MN MSA   Wahpeton, ND–MN μSA
Country	United States
State	North Dakota Minnesota
Largest city	Fargo, ND
Other cities	Moorhead, MN West Fargo, ND Dilworth, MN Wahpeton, ND
Area
• Total	2,820 sq mi (7,310 km)
Population
• Total	233,836
GDP
• Total	$18.792 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)

Fargo–Moorhead, also known as the FM area, is a common name given to the metropolitan area comprising Fargo, North Dakota; Moorhead, Minnesota; and the surrounding communities. These two cities lie on the North Dakota–Minnesota border, on opposite banks of the Red River of the North. The region is the cultural, retail, health care, educational, and industrial center of southeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

The Fargo–Moorhead area is defined by the Census Bureau as comprising all of Cass County, North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota, which includes the cities of Dilworth, Minnesota, West Fargo, North Dakota, and numerous other towns and developments from which commuters travel daily for work, education, and regular activities. A July 1, 2015 census estimate placed the population at 233,836, an increase of 34% from the 2000 census.

Communities

Core cities

• Fargo, North Dakota
• Moorhead, Minnesota
• West Fargo, North Dakota
• Dilworth, Minnesota

Suburbs/Adjacent towns

• Briarwood, North Dakota
• Frontier, North Dakota
• Harwood, North Dakota
• Horace, North Dakota
• North River, North Dakota
• Prairie Rose, North Dakota
• Reile's Acres, North Dakota

Bedroom communities

• Barnesville, Minnesota
• Sabin, Minnesota
• Mapleton, North Dakota
• Casselton, North Dakota
• Davenport, North Dakota
• Glyndon, Minnesota
• Hawley, Minnesota
• Hickson, North Dakota
• Kindred, North Dakota
• Leonard, North Dakota
• Oxbow, North Dakota
• Walcott, North Dakota

Demographics

Age

According to the American Community Survey, the age distribution was as follows:

• Under 5 years: 6.8%
• 5–9 years: 6.1%
• 10–14 years: 5.9%
• 15–19 years: 8.0%
• 20–24 years: 11.9%
• 25–34 years: 16.0%
• 35–44 years: 12.8%
• 45–54 years: 13.2%
• 55–59 years: 5.1%
• 60–64 years: 3.7%
• 65–74 years: 4.9%
• 75–84 years: 3.7%
• 85 years and over: 1.8%
• Median age: 31.6 years

Race

According to the same survey, the racial composition was as follows:

• White: 93.3% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 92.0%)
• Black or African American: 1.6%
• American Indian: 1.4%
• Asian: 1.4%
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
• Some other race: 0.8%
• Two or more races: 1.4%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 2.5%

There were 3,032 African Americans, who made up 1.6% of the population.

The Asian American population is not dominated by a single ancestry group, and is fairly diverse. The largest Asian American group are those of Chinese descent, who number at 928 and make up 0.5% of the population. Other sizable groups include Indians, Vietnamese, and Koreans, who number at 393, 379, and 360 respectively; all three groups comprise roughly 0.2% of the population. There are 134 Filipinos, making up roughly 0.1% of the population. People of Japanese descent were very few, with only 40 people identifying themselves as Japanese; they make up a mere 0.02% of the population.

Pacific Islander Americans numbered at 119, and made up approximately 0.06% of the population.

Multiracial Americans make up 1.4% of the metro area's population. Those of white and Native American ancestry made up 0.5% of the population, and numbered at 938. People of white and Asian ancestry numbered at 557, and those of white and black ancestry numbered at 571. Both groupings made up roughly 0.3% of the population. Approximately 72 people identified themselves as black and Native American.

Hispanics and Latinos are the largest minority group in Fargo–Moorhead. Hispanics and Latinos make up 2.5% of the population, of which 2.0% are of Mexican descent. Of the 4,786 Hispanics, 3,846 are Mexican. There were 196 Puerto Ricans and 136 Cubans; both of these groups made up roughly 0.1% of the population. In addition, 608 individuals identified themselves with other Hispanic or Latino groups other than Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban, making up 0.3% of the population.

The Native American population is predominantly Ojibwe, with a Sioux minority. Of the 2,679 Native Americans, 1,447 are of the Chippewa tribal grouping. The Chippewa alone make up 0.8% of the population. The 444 Sioux make up 0.2% of the population. In addition, 20 people identified themselves as a member of the Cherokee tribal grouping.

NOTE: The source above contains all of the information on population, age, and race.

Ancestry

The European American population is overwhelmingly German and Scandinavian. Most of the Scandinavian population is of Norwegian descent. Smaller Euro-American groups include those of English, Irish, and French descent.

As of the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the top ten largest European ancestry groups were the following:

• German: 42.9% (82,398)
• Norwegian: 36.4% (69,964)
• Irish: 8.6% (16,589)
• Swedish: 6.6% (12,641)
• English: 4.8% (9,286)
• French: 4.3% (8,283)
• Polish: 3.2% (6,180)
• Russian: 2.0% (3,783)
• Czech: 1.6% (3,047)
• Scottish: 1.5% (2,871)

Language spoken at home

• Population 5 years and over: 179,175
• English only: 93.6% (167,729)
• Language other than English: 6.4% (11,446)
• Spanish: 2.1% (3,771)
• Other Indo-European languages: 2.5% (4,393)
• Asian and Pacific Islander languages: 0.9% (1,659)
• Other languages: 0.9% (1,623)

NOTE: The source above contains all of the information on ancestry and language.

Politics

The Fargo–Moorhead area has generally leaned Republican, voting for that party's presidential candidate in every election between 1968 and 2004. While Clay County is a swing county which has voted for Democrats 9 times and Republicans 7 times since 1960, Cass County has only voted Democratic twice: for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and Barack Obama in 2008.

In recent years, however, Fargo–Moorhead has become very competitive. In 2008, it voted for Obama by a nearly-10-point margin, followed by just 0.2% in 2012. In 2016, it flipped Republican once again, voting for Donald Trump by 8 points, and it voted for Trump again in 2020, albeit by a narrow margin of less than a percentage point.

Culture

Fargo/Wahpeton CSA

The Census Bureau also tracks a Fargo–Wahpeton Combined Statistical Area, consisting of Cass and Clay counties, as well as the Wahpeton micropolitan area of Richland County, North Dakota and Wilkin County, Minnesota. This area includes the twin cities of Wahpeton, North Dakota and Breckenridge, Minnesota.

The Fargo–Moorhead urban core is actually about forty-five minutes of highway travel from the Wahpeton–Breckenridge core. The main connection between these two pairs of cities is the Red River Valley, the flat, fertile land that both depend upon for a major part of their economies. Potatoes and sugar beets are important crops in the region, in addition to most of the other crops produced elsewhere in Minnesota and North Dakota.

See also

• Fargo-Moorhead media
• North Dakota statistical areas

References

1. "Total Gross Domestic Product for Fargo, ND-MN (MSA)". Federal Reserve Economic Data. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
2. "Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas". Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
3. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Cass County, North Dakota". www.census.gov. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
4. "US Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
5. "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
6. Forstall, Richard L., ed. (March 27, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
7. "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
8. "Our Campaigns". Retrieved February 16, 2021.

v t e Fargo–Moorhead metropolitan area (ND–MN)
Counties	Cass Clay
Main cities	Fargo‡ Moorhead‡ West Fargo Dilworth
Surrounding areas	Alice Amenia Argusville Arthur Ayr Barnesville Briarwood Buffalo Casselton Comstock Davenport Enderlin Erie Felton Frontier Gardner Georgetown Grandin Glyndon Harwood Hawley Hitterdal Horace Hunter Kindred Leonard Mapleton North River Oxbow Page Prairie Rose Sabin Tower City Reile's Acres Ulen Wheatland
‡ - county seat

v t e Great Lakes megalopolis as defined by the RPA
Includes all metropolitan areas that have a population of 150,000 or greater according to the most recent national census.
Great Lakes region cities	Brantford Buffalo–Niagara Falls Buffalo Niagara Falls Chicago city Cleveland city Detroit city Duluth–Superior Duluth Superior Erie city Grand Rapids city Guelph Green Bay city Hamilton Holland Kalamazoo city Kenosha Lansing city London Milwaukee city Muskegon Niagara Region St. Catharines Niagara Falls Welland Niles Oshawa Rochester, New York city South Bend city Thunder Bay Toledo city Toronto city Traverse City city Waterloo Region Kitchener Cambridge Waterloo Windsor
Surrounding cities	Akron city Altoona Ann Arbor Barrie Bloomington, Indiana city Bloomington–Normal Bloomington, Illinois Normal Canton city Champaign city Cincinnati city Columbus city Dayton city Eau Claire city Elkhart Evansville city Fargo city Flint Fort Wayne city Fox Cities Appleton Oshkosh Indianapolis city Jackson Janesville–Beloit Kankakee city Kingston La Crosse–Onalaska La Crosse Onalaska Lafayette city Madison city Mahoning Valley Youngstown Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis Saint Paul Greater Montreal Laval Longueuil Montreal National Capital Region Ottawa Gatineau Pittsburgh city Peoria city Peterborough Rockford city Rochester, Minnesota city Saguenay St. Cloud city Saginaw city Sioux Falls city Springfield city Sudbury urban neighbourhoods Syracuse city Terre Haute city Trois-Rivières Utica–Rome Utica Rome Quad Cities Bettendorf Davenport East Moline Moline Rock Island Greater Quebec city
Cities of states south of region	Elizabethtown city Kansas City city Louisville city St. Louis city Topeka city Wheeling city
Other metro-regions	Quebec City–Windsor Corridor Golden Horseshoe Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Detroit–Windsor Greater Pittsburgh Metro East
Other megaregions

46°51′N 96°47′W / 46.850°N 96.783°W / 46.850; -96.783

• Fargo–Moorhead