Jury Pool Profile

Grand Forks County, North Dakota

Republican +18.2 (2024)

County seat: Grand Forks
Judicial district: Northeast Central Judicial District Court
Population (July 2025 estimate): 74,501; Census PEP. The five-year ACS survey average is 72,923.

At a glance

Grand Forks County is a 74,501-person venue. The county population is 83% White (Census race-alone categories). Median household income is $70,919, $9,213 below the ND state median of $80,132; 38.0% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher. 8.0% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, most commonly Spanish and German or other West Germanic. The largest employment sector is Education & health services, at 32.2% of covered employment, average pay $70,732/year. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 2.11%, below the 2.49% state average. The county carried the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, taking 55% to 58% of the vote across the three.

Population: 72,923
Median household income: $68,075
Unemployment: 2.1%

Who sits on a jury?

Predominantly White

≥70% White (race-alone) and <20% Black. This county: 83% / 4%.

Grand Forks County has a population of 72,923, with a median age of 30.9. By Census race-alone categories, White residents make up 83.1%; Black residents 3.9%. Independently, 5.4% of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race.

The median household earns $70,919; 38.0% of residents 25 and over hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 12.4% live below the federal poverty line.

Race & ethnicity

White (non-Hispanic) 59,342 81.4%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3,919 5.4%
Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 2,708 3.7%
Asian (non-Hispanic) 2,020 2.8%
Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 3,395 4.7%
American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 1,255 1.7%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 18 0.0%
Some other race (non-Hispanic) 266 0.4%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Age distribution

Median age 30.9

Under 18 15,443 21.2%
18–24 13,932 19.1%
25–44 19,735 27.1%
45–64 13,422 18.4%
65 and over 10,391 14.2%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Income & poverty

Median household income: $70,919; 90% interval $64,787–$77,051; −$9,213 vs ND · 37th of 53
Below poverty line: 12.4%; 90% interval 10.5%–14.3%; +1.6 pp vs ND · 14th of 53

U.S. Census SAIPE 2024

Economic context

Healthcare & education anchored

Largest sector in BLS QCEW: Education & health services, about 32% of covered jobs.

Education & health services is the largest employment sector at 32.2% of covered employment, followed by Trade, transportation & utilities at 21.4%. Trailing-12-month unemployment is 2.11%, below the North Dakota state average.

Local economy

Unemployment (12-mo): 2.1%; −0.38 pp vs. state
County GDP: $5.9B; 7.39% of state
Avg. annual pay: $61,512
Establishments: 2,803

U.S. BLS 2026M07 · U.S. BEA 2024 · BLS QCEW 2025

Top employment sectors

Average annual employment by supersector

Education & health services 13,216 32.2%
Trade, transportation & utilities 8,780 21.4%
Leisure & hospitality 5,336 13.0%
Professional & business services 3,398 8.3%
Manufacturing 2,956 7.2%
Construction 2,635 6.4%
Public administration 1,685 4.1%
Financial activities 1,353 3.3%
Other services 961 2.3%
Natural resources & mining 414 1.0%
Information 345 0.8%

BLS QCEW 2025

Housing

Home ownership: 51.8%; −11.1 pp vs ND · 52nd of 53
Median gross rent: $992; +$38 vs ND · 8th of 53
Owner-occupied: 16,205
Renter-occupied: 15,090

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Local economy in 3 reads

Concentrated

Top three sectors employ 67% of the county workforce. Most panelists likely share employer relationships within these sectors, surface those connections early in voir dire before any institutional-defendant or sector-specific framing.
Moderate wage spread

Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $82,434/yr) pays 3.7× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $22,228/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.
Mixed business scale

Average establishment employs 15 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

BLS QCEW 2025

Largest employers

Principal employers by headcount

3 of the 4 employers listed here are in education & health services, accounting for 10,562 employees on this list. This concentrates 'big institutional employer' juror experience in one sector; confirm employer ties before any framing that touches it.

#	Employer	Sector	Employees
1	University of North Dakota	Higher education (public)	5,562*
2	Altru Health System	Healthcare	3,500*
3	Grand Forks Air Force Base	Military/Defense (federal)	2,400*
4	Grand Forks School District	Education (public K-12)	1,500

* Headcount is an estimate.

Showing 4 of 10 employers on the published list(15,632 employees total).

Source: City of Grand Forks, North Dakota, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the year ended December 31, 2025, Table 20, 'Principal Employers, Current Year and Nine Years Ago.' Counts come from an employer survey conducted by Baker Tilly. This is a city list; Grand Forks County publishes no such schedule. (2025)

Political composition

Consistently Republican

Republican candidate carried this county in 2016, 2020, and 2024 (avg winning share: 56%). 'Strongly' threshold: ≥60% avg.

Grand Forks County was carried by the Republican candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 cycles, with 58.3% in 2024, 54.8% in 2020, 54.9% in 2016.

Presidential results

2024 presidential · 31,089 votes cast

Republican
Democratic

Republican 18,123 58.3%
Democratic 12,469 40.1%
Other / third-party 497 1.6%

Election results 2024

Languages, households, faith & health

Singles/nonfamily-majority, English-speaking

Family households are 49% of all households (thresholds: ≥70% = 'family-dominant'; 50–70% = 'family-majority'; <50% = 'singles/nonfamily-majority'). 8.0% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home (threshold for 'linguistically diverse' is ≥10%).

8.0% of residents 5 years and older speak a language other than English at home. The most common are Spanish, German or other West Germanic, Russian, Polish, or other Slavic. Veterans account for 7.6% of the adult civilian population (4,274 individuals).

Languages spoken at home

92.0% speak only English at home

Spanish 1,299 1.9%
German or other West Germanic 443 0.6%
Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 338 0.5%
Arabic 290 0.4%
Korean 271 0.4%
Chinese 241 0.4%
Tagalog 180 0.3%
French, Haitian, or Cajun 124 0.2%
Vietnamese 88 0.1%

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Household composition

Households: 31,295
Family households: 15,307; 48.9% of households
Married couples w/ children: 5,418; 35.4% of families
Single-mother families: 1,480; 9.7% of families
Veterans: 4,274; 7.6% of civilians 18+

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Religious composition

48.0% overall adherence rate

Mainline Protestant 14,851 20.3%
Catholic 13,121 17.9%
Evangelical Protestant 5,428 7.4%
Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 1,469 2.0%
Black Protestant 250 0.3%

US Religion Census 2020

Health & education

Health insured: 95.5%; ±0.7 pp
Uninsured: 4.5%; ±0.7 pp; 41st of 53
With a disability: 9.9%; ±0.8 pp; 48th of 53
Bachelor's or higher: 38.0%; ±2.2 pp; +5.3 pp vs ND · 3rd of 53
Uninsured, under 65 (2024): 5.9%; 90% interval 5.2%–6.6% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

U.S. Census ACS 2024

Court infrastructure

Trial court: Northeast Central Judicial District Court
Judges: 6 (District Court judges per district (general civil + criminal jurisdiction); vintage 2026 ndcourts.gov)
Court seats: Grand Forks, Lakota

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Court reference

Traffic safety context

Grand Forks totals, 2024 — the per-100k rate is based on 2 recorded deaths, too few to be statistically reliable

Traffic fatalities: 2; 3.48 per 100k adults (18+)
Fatal crashes: 2

NHTSA FARS 2024