The City of Minot has a goal: To get to the 50,000 population level in the 2020 Census.
"By achieving 50,000 residents, we would be eligible for additiional sources of federal funding, community develpment block grants, metropolitan planning orgianzation funding, for long range transportation planning," said Minot Community and Economic Development Director Brian Billingsley.
Billingsley said the City is making an effort to make sure all Minot residents are counted in the Census.
"We're trying to reach out to groups of people who may not live here full-time," Billingsley said. "They may be airmen (from the Minot Air Force Base), college students oilfield workers, snowbirds. We want to make sure we count as many of those people as possible as residents of Minot and North Dakota."
Billingsley said he’s not quite as confident of that 50,000 mark as he was a few months ago, before the coronavirus pandemic, and the downturn in the oil markets.
"I don't know how many oil workers have left the state," Billingsley said. "If they're not in the state, it will be difficult to count them as North Dakota residents."
But Billingsley said Minot still has a legitimate shot. And he said it helps that the Administration has extended the deadline for residents to fill out their Census forms until October 1.
