What is life like in a North Dakota Oil Town?

One of our readers from Atlanta recently contacted wanting to know what life is like living in North Dakota. Here's what we have to say...

 Comming from a larger metro area you may want to consider Fargo or Grand Forks instead of the oil patch. Fargo is much smaller than you are probaby used to however both those towns are larger and more progressive than other areas and would probably make for an easier transition. 

 Cost of living is lower outside of western North Dakota but salaries also drop with the cost of living as you would probably expect. There are jobs to be had in the whole state not just the oil patch. I'd suggest come looking for yourself before moving.  

People usually treat everyone like a person before anything else. There is a bit of a your an outsider mentality but not bad. Overall though people are friendly enough.  

Salaries are all over the place, very high in western North Dakota, fairly low in rural areas with exceptions depending upon the industry and what you're looking for and variable in different city areas. The great thing is unemployment is very low at 3.3% or less everywhere so we need workers.