West Fargo, North Dakota
Encyclopedia
As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 14,940 people, 5,771 households, and 4,091 families residing in the city, however the current population of West Fargo is estimated at over 26,000 residents. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 2,049.2 per square mile (791.3/km²). There were 5,968 housing units at an average density of 818.6 per square mile (316.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.40% White, 0.42% African American, 1.04% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.41% of the population.

The top 6 ancestry groups in the city are German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 (47.9%), Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 (39.7%), Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 (8.3%), Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 (7.2%), French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (5.2%), English
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (4.8%).

There were 5,771 households out of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the city the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 6.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,542, and the median income for a family was $51,765. Males had a median income of $32,105 versus $22,148 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $19,368. About 4.7% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.8% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over.

According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly . It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census...

, the racial composition was as follows:
  • White
    White American
    White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...

    : 91.7% (Non-Hispanic Whites
    Non-Hispanic Whites
    Non-Hispanic Whites or White, Not Hispanic or Latino are people in the United States, as defined by the Census Bureau, who are of the White race and are not of Hispanic or Latino origin/ethnicity. Hence the designation is exclusive in the sense that it defines who is not included as opposed to who is...

    : 90.6%)
  • Black or African American
    African American
    African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

    : 0.6%%
  • American Indian
    Native Americans in the United States
    Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

    : 3.0%
  • Asian
    Asian American
    Asian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...

    : 0.5%
  • Pacific Islander
    Pacific Islander American
    Pacific Islander Americans, also known as Oceanian Americans, are residents of the United States with original ancestry from Oceania. They represent the smallest racial group counted in the United States census of 2000. They numbered 874,000 people or 0.3 percent of the United States population...

    : 0.0%
  • Some other race: 2.0%
  • Two or more races
    Multiracial American
    Multiracial Americans, US residents who identify themselves as of "two or more races", were numbered at around 9 million, or 2.9% of the population, in the census of 2010. However there is considerable evidence that the real number is far higher. Prior to the mid-20th century many people hid their...

    : 2.3%

  • Hispanic or Latino
    Hispanic and Latino Americans
    Hispanic or Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino.1990 Census of Population and Housing: A self-designated classification for people whose origins...

     (of any race): 3.0%


Source:

According to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the top ten European ancestries were the following:
  • German
    German American
    German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...

    : 50.4%
  • Norwegian
    Norwegian American
    Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...

    : 35.3%
  • Irish
    Irish American
    Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...

    : 9.8%
  • Swedish
    Swedish American
    Swedish Americans are Americans of Swedish descent, especially the descendants of about 1.2 million immigrants from Sweden during 1885-1915. Most were Lutherans who affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America ; some were Methodists...

    : 5.6%
  • French
    French American
    French Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French or French Canadian descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of this descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...

    : 4.2%
  • English
    English American
    English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....

    : 3.8%
  • Polish
    Polish American
    A Polish American , is a citizen of the United States of Polish descent. There are an estimated 10 million Polish Americans, representing about 3.2% of the population of the United States...

    : 2.7%
  • Czech
    Czech American
    Czech Americans are citizens of the United States who were born in, or who descended from, the territory of the historic Czech lands, , or succession states, now known as the Czech Republic...

    : 2.7%
  • Russian
    Russian American
    Russian Americans are primarily Americans who traces their ancestry to Russia. The definition can be applied to recent Russian immigrants to the United States, as well as to settlers of 19th century Russian settlements in northwestern America which includes today's California, Alaska and...

    : 2.0%
  • Dutch: 1.3%


Source:

Education

The city of West Fargo is served by West Fargo School District. The system operates the West Fargo Kindergarten Center, Eastwood Elementary School, L. E. Berger Elementary School, South Elementary School, Westside Elementary School], Cheney Middle School for grades 6 - 8, STEM Center, and West Fargo High School
West Fargo High School
West Fargo High School is a public high school located in West Fargo, North Dakota. It currently serves about 1,300 students and is a part of the West Fargo Public Schools system. The official school colors are green and white and the athletic teams are known as the "The Packers"...

. Another school, Aurora Elementary School opened for the 2007-2008 school year. Aurora is located in the Eagle Run development in southern West Fargo. Sheyenne 9th Grade Center, opened August 27, 2007 as a response to the district's growing enrollment and overcrowding at West Fargo High School. 2007 marks the first year the freshmen have been educated outside the High School since 1993. The Sheyenne 9th Grade Center may serve as a second middle school for West Fargo, as it was decided in March 2009 to be voted on by the public.

The West Fargo School District also serves much of southwestern Fargo, the suburb of Reile's Acres, and the communities of Horace and Harwood, giving both towns their own elementary schools (Horace Elementary and Harwood Elementary).

West Fargo Public Library utilizes Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...

 technologies on its website, these include blogs and photos.
In 2011, West Fargo was recognized as a Playful City USA by the KaBOOM Foundation.

Sites of interest

  • Big Iron Farm Show
    Big Iron Farm Show
    The Big Iron Farm Show is a large farm show held on the grounds of the Red River Valley Fairgrounds in West Fargo, North Dakota. The show started in 1980 in Casselton, North Dakota, but moved to West Fargo in 1981....

  • Maple River Golf Club, Inc.
  • Bonanzaville, USA
    Bonanzaville, USA
    Bonanzaville, USA is a history museum complex in West Fargo, North Dakota. Bonanzaville, the museum of the Cass County Historical Society, is made up of forty-seven buildings on , many of them are historic and from the region. These buildings have been moved to the museum grounds and now form a...


Notable people

  • Anthony W. England (PhD), former NASA astronaut.
  • Tyler Roehl
    Tyler Roehl
    Tyler Roehl is an American football running back. He was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football for North Dakota State University. In June 2009, he was placed on the Waived/Injured list...

    , free agent NFL running back

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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