By 2012, income from oil royalties was reportedly paying many local mineral owners $50,000 to $60,000 per month, and some more than $100,000 per month. Bruce Gjovig, head of the UND Center for Innovation Foundation in Grand Forks, estimated that the boom was creating 2,000 millionaires per year in North Dakota. By 2010, the average income in Mountrail County more than doubled to $52,027, putting the county into the top 100 richest counties in the United States.^[8]

The oil boom reduced unemployment in North Dakota to 3.5 percent in December 2011, the lowest of any state in the US.^[9][10]

The number of actively-drilling rigs in North Dakota peaked at 217 rigs in Spring 2012, with the rig count averaging 180-190 throughout 2013.^[11] Each of the rigs is estimated to create roughly 125 new full-time jobs. This means a total growth of around 25,000 jobs, including an extra 10,000 jobs for workers who lay pipes to producing wells and produce processing plants.^[10] Some estimates predict that North Dakota could have as many as 48,000 new wells, with drilling taking place over the next two to three decades.

The Bakken boom propelled North Dakota into the top ranks of oil-producing states. By 2007, North Dakota ranked 8th among the states in oil production. In 2008, the state overtook Wyoming and New Mexico; in 2009 it outproduced Louisiana and Oklahoma; and in 2011 and 2012 it surpassed California and Alaska respectively. By 2012, North Dakota was exceeded only by Texas in oil production.^[12]

Government revenue edit

The North Dakota state government receives through severance taxes 11.5 percent of the gross value of all oil produced.^[13] The boom gave the state of North Dakota a billion-dollar budget surplus in 2011.^[9][10]

In addition to severance taxes, the state of North Dakota owns extensive mineral rights, which are leased by competitive bidding. In fiscal year 2010, the State Land Department reported that mineral income on its land earned $265 million for the North Dakota school trust fund, and that the trust fund had grown to $1.3 billion.^[14]

The federal government is also a major owner of mineral rights in the region, and leases the rights to companies in competitive bidding. In a January 2013 federal lease sale, the top bid was $19,500 per acre for a lease on one tract in North Dakota. Of the lease sale and royalties from the federal tracts, the federal government keeps 52 percent, and passes 48 percent on to the state of North Dakota.^[15]

The industrialization and population boom put a strain on roads, water supplies, sewage systems, and government services in the Bakken Formation and Williston Basin area. For context, this area covers over half of the state. Some counties increased in population by almost double from 20,000 to 40,000. The population increased in men and decreased in women, as the physically laborious jobs attracted some, while crime drove out others. Long term viability of a boom area generally will not last, as the services do not expand at the same rapid pace of population growth. Examples of services that were not maintained in North Dakota include school consolidations and size accommodations, lack of goods on demand, poor health care availability, loss of human capitol, inadequate elderly care, and road development.

Sociologist John S. Gilmore presents the idea of a boom town 'problem triangle'. The notion is as follows: Local services do not keep up with population growth, degrading the quality of life in the community. Lower quality of life creates more difficult in attracting additional population needed to support growth of services. Private investors also are often hesitant to invest in services, as chaos/ crime is often perpetuated in these areas. The oil industry relies on employees, but these employees in turn rely on other employees (dining, retail, etc.) and services (law enforcement, school systems, health care, etc.).^[16] When additional population for other businesses and services are not present, the oil employees cannot live healthy, secure lives.

The boom also brought with it increases in crime and social problems. The addition of thousands of oil workers led to a housing shortage, requiring the construction of man camps for housing them. These poorly made, portable housing units were popularized due to North Dakota proliferating usage specifically.^[17] Law enforcement agencies reported sharp increases in offenses, particularly violent crime, drug trafficking, gun crimes, and prostitution in these areas. While crime did not increase as dramatically as it is typically perceived to have been, there was certainly an increase in population and a decrease of police ratio. The created a cautious environment for many, as safety was less ensured by state/ national institutions. However, despite inflammatory perceptions of crime rates, there was a concrete increase of crime. Violent crime, such as rape and aggravated assault, increased 30% in the Bakken region compared to pre-man camp times. The majority of victims of ongoing sexual violence are Indigenous women, targeted due to their minority identity, twofold with intersectionality.^[18]

There is a prevalent notion among oilfield workers in the Bakken that there will be no consequences for assaults against Indigenous women. This exacerbates the ongoing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis. Native American women experienced 2.5 times higher victimization of crime than other races- and women experienced 54% increase in unlawful sexual contact, most often statutory rape.^[19]

Crime affected the relationship between boom newcomers and longtime residents. Residents saw newcomers as threats to their access to resources and services. However, the longest residing people, such as the Standing Rock Sioux and Lakota tribes, were completely disregarded in decision making in land usage and development for oil fields. One instance particularly caught the eye of the public, when the Dakota Access Pipeline risked the people's access to land, water, and sacred sites. The issue made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, but was ultimately the land and people did not get justice. The pipeline disrupts water flow from the Mississippi to the tribal land in order to deliver oil from the Bakken to Illinois. The pipeline also directly violates the Fort Laramie Treaty (Article II), which guarantees the 'undisturbed use and occupation of the sovereign nation's reservation lands.^[20]

The oil boom in North Dakota experienced a brief decline in 2014 after the Saudi Arabian oil industry increased its output and the price of crude oil fell from $108 to $40.^[21] The price returned just as the U.S. economy recovered from the Great Recession which resulted in difficulties recruiting workers back to the region.^[21]

By October 2020, total oil rig count in North Dakota had fallen. According to the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, the total oil rig count in the state had fallen from 58 active rigs on October 3, 2019, to only 11 active rigs on October 3, 2020, a reduction of over 80 percent.^[22] However, oil production hit an all time high of 1.5 million barrels per day in 2019. Demand fell temporarily due to Covid-19. Oil prices have since recovered to over $70 per barrel in 2021 due to increased demand linked to the Covid-19 recovery. North Dakota remained the state with the second highest oil production, after Texas^[23] until overtaken by New Mexico in May 2021.^[24]

• Bakken Formation
• Blood & Oil, a fictional 2015 TV series that takes place in North Dakota
• Keystone Pipeline
• Marcellus natural gas trend
• The Overnighters, a documentary film about workers in the North Dakota oil boom
• Peak oil