Poverty Rates in Oil-Producing Counties – North Dakota

Many live in poverty in oil country due to high rent, food prices, By Teri Finneman, August 14, 2011, Dickinson Press: “In one of the state’s wealthiest counties, the line of people waiting for the food pantry to open shows another side of the state’s oil boom story. The oil and gas industry has contributed to the state’s nationally known prosperity and created high-paying jobs in western North Dakota. But those who don’t make oilfield wages face the boom’s negative side effects, including the increasing cost of rent, services and goods. ‘I think the common misconception is that since we are in what most people call ‘oil country,’ that everybody is wealthy,’ said Holly Flatau of the Great Plains Food Bank in Fargo. ‘What it’s actually caused is a greater gap in those that are wealthy and those who are not. It’s harder for people that aren’t wealthy to make it on their own…'”