{"id":6752,"date":"2023-08-17T08:43:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T08:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=6752"},"modified":"2026-08-18T00:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T00:28:41","slug":"pierce-county-north-dakota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/pierce-county-north-dakota\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierce County, North Dakota"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pierce County is a county in North Dakota, United States, home to the surveyed geographical center of North America near the town of Balta. It had a population of 3,990 at the 2020 census and covers 1,082 square miles (2,803 km2) centred near 48&deg;14&prime;N 99&deg;58&prime;W.<\/p>\n<p>Rugby is the county seat, and its postal code is 58368. The county has three incorporated cities, three census-designated places and three unincorporated communities. Pierce County observes Central time.<\/p>\n<h2>Towns &amp; Villages in Pierce County<\/h2>\n<p>Nine named places are recognized in Pierce County: three cities (including the county seat), three census-designated places (CDPs) that are unincorporated but tracked separately by the Census Bureau, and three smaller unincorporated communities with no formal government. Population figures below are 2020 census counts where available; a dash means no separate figure is published for that place.<\/p>\n<div class=\"tv-table-scroll\">\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Place<\/th>\n<th>Type<\/th>\n<th>Pop.<\/th>\n<th>ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Rugby<\/td>\n<td>City &middot; seat<\/td>\n<td>2,509<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Balta<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58313<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Wolford<\/td>\n<td>City<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58385<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Barton<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Orrin<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Selz<\/td>\n<td>CDP<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Leverich<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Silva<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Tunbridge<\/td>\n<td>Unincorp.<\/td>\n<td>&mdash;<\/td>\n<td>58368<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rugby is by far the largest place in the county and the only one with its own ZIP code besides Balta and Wolford; Barton, Orrin, Selz and the unincorporated communities of Leverich, Silva and Tunbridge all use Rugby&#8217;s 58368 postal code even though they are not part of the city.<\/p>\n<h2>ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>58368 &mdash; Rugby (also serves Barton, Orrin, Selz, Leverich, Silva and Tunbridge)<\/li>\n<li>58385 &mdash; Wolford<\/li>\n<li>58313 &mdash; Balta<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every address in Pierce County falls under one of these three ZIP codes; the smaller communities and rural townships share whichever post office is closest, most commonly Rugby.<\/p>\n<h2>Geography<\/h2>\n<p>Pierce County lies on the Missouri Coteau, a belt of hummocky glacial terrain in north-central North Dakota marked by low ridges and thousands of small prairie potholes and shallow lakes rather than a single dominant river. Of the county&#8217;s 1,082 square miles, 1,018 square miles are land and 64 square miles are water, most of it in scattered wetlands and small lakes used for waterfowl habitat and local recreation. The unincorporated crossroads of Balta sits close to the surveyed geographic center of the North American continent, marked with a monument in Rugby at the junction of US Highway 2 and North Dakota Highway 3.<\/p>\n<p>Pierce County is bordered by Bottineau County to the northwest, Rolette County to the northeast, Towner County to the north, Benson County to the east, Wells County to the southeast, <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/sheridan-county-north-dakota\/\">Sheridan County<\/a> to the south, and <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/mchenry-county-north-dakota\/\">McHenry County<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\n<h2>Demographics<\/h2>\n<p>Pierce County&#8217;s population was 3,990 at the 2020 census, giving a density of roughly 3.9 people per square mile of land &mdash; typical for a rural Great Plains county. Rugby, the county seat, is home to nearly two-thirds of the county&#8217;s residents; Balta and Wolford are its next-largest incorporated places, each with well under 200 people. Median household income in Pierce County runs below the North Dakota median of $76,525, reflecting the county&#8217;s dependence on agriculture rather than the state&#8217;s oil-producing western counties.<\/p>\n<h2>Economy &amp; Local Life<\/h2>\n<p>Agriculture drives the local economy, with wheat, canola, barley and other small grains grown on the county&#8217;s rolling farmland, supported by grain elevators and farm-supply businesses concentrated in Rugby. Rugby also serves as the regional trade and medical hub for north-central North Dakota, anchored by Heart of America Medical Center. The Geographical Center of North America monument in Rugby draws highway travelers year-round and is the county&#8217;s best-known landmark.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>Pierce County was created by the Dakota Territory legislature on March 11, 1887, and organized soon after statehood, taking its name from Gilbert A. Pierce, a territorial governor of Dakota Territory and later one of North Dakota&#8217;s first two United States senators. Rugby was platted along the Great Northern Railway line and grew as the county&#8217;s rail and market center. In 1931, surveyors calculated that the geographic center of the North American continent falls a few miles west of Balta in Pierce County, a distinction the county has promoted ever since with the monument now standing in Rugby.<\/p>\n<h2>Getting There<\/h2>\n<p>US Highways 2 and 52 cross at Rugby, and North Dakota Highways 3, 17, 19 and 60 connect the county&#8217;s smaller communities to it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Minot &mdash; about 65 miles southwest<\/li>\n<li>Devils Lake &mdash; about 60 miles east<\/li>\n<li>Minot International Airport &mdash; about 65 miles southwest, the nearest commercial airport<\/li>\n<li>Bismarck &mdash; about 130 miles south<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Where is Pierce County, North Dakota?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt lies in north-central North Dakota on the Missouri Coteau, about 65 miles northeast of Minot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the population of Pierce County?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt had a population of 3,990 at the 2020 census.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How big is Pierce County?<\/strong><br \/>\nIt covers 1,082 square miles (2,803 km2), of which 1,018 square miles are land and 64 square miles are water.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is the county seat of Pierce County?<\/strong><br \/>\nRugby is the county seat and largest city.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many towns are in Pierce County?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe county has three cities (Rugby, Balta and Wolford), three census-designated places (Barton, Orrin and Selz) and three unincorporated communities (Leverich, Silva and Tunbridge).<\/p>\n<p><strong>What ZIP codes are in Pierce County?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe county uses three ZIP codes: 58368 (Rugby), 58385 (Wolford) and 58313 (Balta).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why is Rugby known as the geographical center of North America?<\/strong><br \/>\nA 1931 survey placed the geographic center of the North American continent a few miles west of Balta in Pierce County; a monument marking the distinction now stands in Rugby at US Highway 2 and North Dakota Highway 3.<\/p>\n<p>More counties in this state: <a href=\"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/category\/north-dakota\/\">Towns and villages in North Dakota<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pierce County is a county in North Dakota, United States, home to the surveyed geographical center of North America near the town of Balta. It had a population of 3,990 at the 2020 census and covers 1,082 square miles (2,803 km2) centred near 48&deg;14&prime;N 99&deg;58&prime;W. Rugby is the county seat, and its postal code is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Pierce County, North Dakota","_seopress_titles_desc":"Pierce County, ND: population, towns, ZIP codes, geography and the North America geographic-center monument at Rugby.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-6752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-north-dakota","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6752"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10423,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions\/10423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}