Grand Forks vs Thompson

A side-by-side comparison of Grand Forks and Thompson: population, income, housing, and more.

Grand Forks and Thompson are places in North Dakota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Grand Forks has the higher population (58,882 vs 1,092 in Thompson). Thompson has the higher median household income ($110,909 vs $63,838 in Grand Forks). Thompson has the higher median home value ($274,000 vs $243,300 in Grand Forks).

Population, income & housing

	Grand Forks	Thompson
Population	58,882	1,092
Median age	29.4 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$63,838	$110,909
Median home value	$243,300	$274,000
Median gross rent	$958	$706
Housing units	27,897	439
Homeownership rate	46.5%	92.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.2%	39.7%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	0.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grand Forks	Thompson
Population	56,500 → 58,882 (+4.2%)	1,133 → 1,092 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$50,076 → $63,838 (+27.5%)	$93,125 → $110,909 (+19.1%)
Median home value	$210,300 → $243,300 (+15.7%)	$210,100 → $274,000 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$811 → $958 (+18.1%)	$670 → $706 (+5.4%)

Grand Forks

Population

56,50058,882

Median household income

$50,076$63,838

Median home value

$210,300$243,300

Median gross rent

$811$958

Thompson

Population

1,1331,092

Median household income

$93,125$110,909

Median home value

$210,100$274,000

Median gross rent

$670$706

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Grand Forks	Thompson
Under 5	6.0%	3.2%
5 to 17	13.5%	27.9%
18 to 24	22.4%	1.9%
25 to 34	16.4%	9.4%
35 to 44	11.2%	8.1%
45 to 54	7.9%	19.2%
55 to 64	8.9%	17.7%
65 to 74	8.0%	6.2%
75 and over	5.6%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grand Forks	Thompson
White (non-Hispanic)	80.6%	95.1%
Black or African American	4.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.9%	0.4%
Asian	3.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.1%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grand Forks	Thompson
No high school diploma	4.3%	1.9%
High school graduate	20.4%	20.9%
Some college or associate's	36.1%	37.5%
Bachelor's degree	24.1%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	15.1%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grand Forks	Thompson
Drove alone	80.3%	77.3%
Carpooled	7.8%	13.5%
Public transit	0.9%	0.8%
Walked	3.7%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.6%	6.4%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grand Forks	Thompson
1-unit, detached	37.9%	89.1%
1-unit, attached	9.2%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	15.0%	5.0%
20 or more units	27.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	2.5%

Poverty & households

	Grand Forks	Thompson
Poverty rate	16.3%	1.0%
Average household size	2.11	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	15	20
Median year structure built	1983	1977