Steele County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,798, and was estimated to be 1,797 in 2025, making it the fourth-least populous county in North Dakota. The county seat and the largest city is Finley.
History The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on June 2, 1883, with territories partitioned from Griggs and Traill counties. It was not organized at that time but was attached to Traill for administrative and judicial purposes. It was named for businessman Edward H. Steele, who had pushed for its creation.
On June 13, 1883, the county organization was affected and Steele County was detached from Traill County; Sherbrooke, North Dakota was chosen as the county seat. In 1897 the town of Finley was founded, and by 1919 its growth had eclipsed Sherbrooke to the point that the county seat was transferred to Finley. The county's boundaries have been unchanged since its creation.
Geography The Sheyenne River flows south near and into the county's west boundary line. The Goose River flows southeast through the northeastern part of the county. The terrain consists of rolling hills dotted with lakes and ponds. The area is devoted to agriculture. The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is near its northwestern corner, at ASL.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.46%) is water. It is the 50th largest county in North Dakota by total area.
Major highways North Dakota Highway 32 North Dakota Highway 38 North Dakota Highway 200
Adjacent counties
Grand Forks County - north Traill County - east Cass County - southeast Barnes County - southwest Griggs County - west Nelson County - northwest
Lakes Source:
Golden Lake Golden Rush Lake Lake Tobiason Lone Tree Lake North Golden Lake Stony Lake Willow Lake
Demographics
Recent estimates As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the median home value in Steele County was $127,570.
As of the 2023 American Community Survey, there are 731 estimated households in Steele County with an average of 2.37 persons per household. The county has a median household income of $80,313. Approximately 13.3% of the county's population lives at or below the poverty line. Steele County has an estimated 59.7% employment rate, with 29.6% of the population holding a bachelor's degree or higher and 94.5% holding a high school diploma.
The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (98.6%), Spanish (0.0%), Indo-European (1.4%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.0%), and Other (0.1%).
Steele County, North Dakota – racial and ethnic composition Race / ethnicity (NH = non-Hispanic) Pop. 1980 Pop. 1990 Pop. 2000 Pop. 2010 White alone (NH) 3,094(99.61%) 2,411(99.63%) 2,220(98.32%) 1,916(97.01%) 1,721(95.72%) Black or African American alone (NH) 2(0.06%) 0(0.00%) 1(0.04%) 3(0.15%) 3(0.17%) Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) 1(0.03%) 2(0.08%) 14(0.62%) 23(1.16%) 7(0.39%) Asian alone (NH) 6(0.19%) 2(0.08%) 1(0.04%) 2(0.10%) 0(0.00%) Pacific Islander alone (NH) — — 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%) Other race alone (NH) 0(0.00%) 0(0.00%) 1(0.04%) 1(0.05%) 0(0.00%) Mixed race or multiracial (NH) — — 17(0.75%) 10(0.51%) 31(1.72%) Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3(0.10%) 5(0.21%) 4(0.18%) 20(1.01%) 36(2.00%) Total 3,106(100.00%) 2,420(100.00%) 2,258(100.00%) 1,975(100.00%) 1,798(100.00%)
2020 census As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,798, 788 households, and 515 families residing in the county. Of the residents, 21.7% were under the age of 18 and 24.4% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 48.4 years. For every 100 females there were 114.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 117.1 males.
There were 788 households, of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 14.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
The population density was . There were 1,091 housing units at an average density of . Of those units, 27.8% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 81.9% were owner-occupied and 18.1% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0% and the rental vacancy rate was 15.6%.
The racial makeup of the county was 96.3% White, 0.2% Black or African American, 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.0% Asian, 0.22% Pacific Islander, 0.3% from some other race, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 2.0% of the population.
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 1,975 people, 864 households, and 589 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 1,171 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.57% White, 0.15% African American, 1.16% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from some other races and 0.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 1.01% of the population.
In terms of ancestry, 60.0% were Norwegian, 35.2% were German, 5.4% were Irish, and 1.0% were American.
There were 864 households, 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 4.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.8% were non-families, and 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.78. The median age was 47.7 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $44,191 and the median income for a family was $54,625. Males had a median income of $36,588 versus $25,648 for females. The per capita income for the county was $27,728. About 4.3% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 5.1% of those age 65 or over.
Population by decade
Communities Cities
Finley (county seat) Hope Luverne Sharon
Unincorporated communities Source:
Blabon Colgate Pickert SherbrookeGhosts of North Dakota: Sherbrooke (original county seat; now mostly uninhabited)
Townships
Beaver Creek Broadlawn Carpenter Colgate Easton Edendale Enger Finley Franklin Golden Lake Greenview Hugo Melrose Newburgh Primrose Riverside Sharon Sherbrooke Westfield Willow Lake
+ Township Numbers and Range Numbers Range 57 Range 56 Range 55 Range 54 Township 148 Sharon Westfield Beaver Creek Newburgh Township 147 Franklin Finley Golden Lake Enger Township 146 Greenview Easton Sherbrooke Primrose Township 145 Riverside Melrose Hugo Edendale Township 144 Willow Lake Carpenter Colgate Broadlawn
Politics Steele County was a Democratic-leaning swing county in presidential elections until 2016, when Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by nearly 20 points, an almost total flip from Barack Obama's 20 point win in 2008. In 2020, Joe Biden fared even worse despite a national increase for the Democratic Party from 2016. He was the first Democrat to win without the county since John F. Kennedy in 1960, and had the lowest proportion of the county's vote of any winning Democrat since Woodrow Wilson in 1912. Since 1964 Steele County has favored the Democratic presidential candidate in 64% of elections.
Education School districts include: - Text list Dakota Prairie Public School District 1 Finley-Sharon Public School District 19 Griggs County Central School District 18 Hatton Public School District 7 Hope-Page School District 85 (merger of Hope Public School District 10 and Page Public School District 80) May-Port CG Public School District 14 Northwood Public School District 129
Former districts: Hope Public School District 10 - Consolidated with Page district in 2020 - Check the 2020-2021 spreadsheet, which lists a single "Hope Page" school district, and compare with all previous sheets which show them as two separate school districts. Page Public School District 80 - Consolidated with Hope district in 2020
In 1964 the county had 992 students in four schools; at the time there were five school districts but Colgate was not operating any schools as its school closed in 1964. - Clipping from Newspapers.com
See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Steele County, North Dakota
References
External links Steele County – official website Steele County map, North Dakota DOT