North Dakota is seeing declines in its number of children as well as the aging of its general population. Nonetheless, the success of every family with children is important to the success of the entire state. The experiences of rural families reflect challenges that need to be examined separately from urban families.

It is important to define rural so researchers, policy makers, and service providers can have a common point-of-reference. However, a variety of approaches to designating an area’s status exist, from population-based “urban/rural” definitions to county-based "metro/nonmetro” definitions. Sometimes the terms “rural” and “nonmetro” are used interchangeably, though they are not truly synonymous.

According to Census 2000 data:

• Not quite half of North Dakota’s population lives in rural areas (44.1%).
• However, the population is 100% rural for 39 of North Dakota’s 53 counties. The population is not considered 100% urban in any of the counties.
• More than half (55.8%) of the state’s residents live in the 49 counties designated as nonmetro. Four counties (i.e., Burleigh, Cass, Grand Forks, and Morton counties) are designated as metro.

A detailed discussion of these data, the complexity of defining “rural,” the most common definitions, and North Dakota maps can be viewed on the North Dakota State Data Center website at www.ndsu.edu/sdc/data/ruralurbanmetro.htm.