Counties / North Dakota / Rolette County

Rolette County, ND

FIPS 38079 · population 11,924 · outside every metro area

$104k
ACS owner-reported value · ACS 2024 5-year
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

ACS owner-reported value
$104k
survey estimate; not a current listing or sale price
Census ACS · surveyed
ACS median gross rent
$505
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$954
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Owner-reported value$104k
Surveyed gross rent$505
Rent burden 30%+30.8%
Median year built1980
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
17.8%vacant
4,588estimated housing units
Occupied tenure37.2% renter
owner 62.8%renter 37.2%
Structure mix69.4% single-family
Single-family 69.4%20+ units 2.1%Mobile home 19.7%Other 8.9%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs4,666▲ 1.6% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments286annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$1,031▲ 2.4% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorTrade, transportation, and utilities39.2% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+1.6%WEEKLY WAGE+2.4%Trade, transportation, and utilities39.2%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Rolette County presents a thin visible MLS market against household-retention uncertainty, so an investor needing reliable lease-up and exit comparables should investigate rather than treat scarce listings as strength. Realtor.com reported 15 active listings, a 68-day median marketing time, and marketing time 38.78% shorter year over year. These are listing-market measures of advertised supply and exposure, not closed-sale prices or proof of buyer demand. The median listing-price level is not published.

02Housing economics

Housing economics remain unpriced for yield purposes. The ACS survey puts the owner-reported median value of owner-occupied homes at $103,800 and surveyed gross rent for occupied units at $505; these are separate survey populations, not current asking measures, and cannot be combined. Market rent is not published, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD FMR is $954, a payment standard rather than market rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.94%, with a $977 median annual tax; this is a carrying-cost input, not a valuation proxy. ACS vacancy is 17.85%, a descriptive survey estimate warranting local availability checks.

03Demand & competition

County workplace QCEW covered employment rose 1.63%, while Trade, transportation, and utilities accounted for 39.19% of total private covered employment. This identifies a disclosed employment concentration, not the whole county economy or resident labor market. Tax-return migration was net negative 41 households, although average AGI of inbound movers at $44,733 exceeded that of outbound movers at $39,500. That mix does not establish rental demand. Investor purchase mortgages represented 20% of purchases, showing some nonowner competition but not transaction depth or rent-setting power.

04Risk & next checks

Wildfire is the dominant hazard, and the modeled climate-loss ratio is 0.10% of building value per year; it is not an insurance quote or asset-specific loss estimate. This record does not publish current market rent, closed-sale pricing, a Zillow county value series, or an FHFA repeat-transaction HPI observation. Insurance and condition evidence are also not published. These gaps prevent a gross-yield calculation, a cross-method price-direction check, and property-level carrying-cost underwriting. Next checks are rent comps, insurance and mitigation terms, condition, and neighborhood vacancy.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Rolette County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Belcourt CDP1.5KShell Valley CDP1.2KRolla city1KGreen Acres CDP994Dunseith city818East Dunseith CDP450Rolette city363St. John city286
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

9 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Belcourt CDPCensus-designated place
    1,547
  2. 02
    Shell Valley CDPCensus-designated place
    1,243
  3. 03
    Rolla cityIncorporated place
    1,039
  4. 04
    Green Acres CDPCensus-designated place
    994
  5. 05
    Dunseith cityIncorporated place
    818
  6. 06
    East Dunseith CDPCensus-designated place
    450
  7. 07
    Rolette cityIncorporated place
    363
  8. 08
    St. John cityIncorporated place
    286
  9. 09
    Mylo cityIncorporated place
    8

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardwildfire

0.095% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.94%

$977 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migration-41

131 in · 172 out

Arriving vs leaving income+$5,233

$44,733 arriving · $39,500 leaving

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investors20.0%

4 of 20 mortgages

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings15▼ 21.1% year over year
Median days on market68▼ 38.8% year over year
Listings price-reduced19.2%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/a▲ 2.5% year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Local rent comps could show rent levels or lease-up conditions inconsistent with the ACS survey context.
  2. The small visible MLS set may not support reliable resale comparables or liquidity conclusions.
  3. Wildfire insurance, mitigation requirements, and site exposure may exceed what the county climate model captures.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. County market rent is not published, and HUD FMR cannot substitute for market rent.

Do Zillow or FHFA corroborate county price direction?

No. Neither a Zillow county value observation nor an FHFA repeat-transaction HPI observation is supplied.

What is the identified climate hazard?

Wildfire; the climate-loss measure is county-level modeled evidence rather than an asset insurance quote.