I was keyed into the most surprising map of the year while reading this article in the Financial Times. If you put your finger on a map of the U.S. where do you feel you’d need to live to justify renting a three-bedroom, three-bath apartment for $4,500 per month? How about a 700 square foot one bedroom for $2,000 per month? This may not be where you had in mind, courtesy of the Apartment Guide Blog:
Welcome to Williston, North Dakota, where the oil industry has caused the population to more than double in the past five years. And, according to Apartment Guide data, you’ll pay more to live in a small apartment here than you would anywhere else in the country. A 700-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath apartment in Williston easily can cost more than $2,000 per month.
Looking for a little more space? A three-bedroom, three-bath apartment could cost as much as $4,500 per month.
Why so much?
Williston was a quiet, agricultural town of about 14,700 when the 2010 Census was taken, but now it produces more oil than any other site in the country, and its population has swelled to about 30,000 people. The oil boom has created many high-paying jobs in the area, and apartments can’t be built fast enough to accommodate the influx of workers – many of whom make six figures per year. The apartments that are already there are in high demand, so they get snatched up immediately, and for a pretty penny.
