Bismarck ND rent increase 2026 Bismarck — North Dakota’s state capital, seat of Burleigh County, and the anchor of the Bismarck-Mandan MSA (~145,000) — has no rent control of any kind in 2026. No North Dakota city has ever enacted residential rent control. North Dakota Century Code §47-16-07.3 (enacted 1981) explicitly prohibits any county or municipality from fixing or regulating residential rents. Security deposit: 1-month cap (NDCC §47-16-07(1)); 30-day return with itemized accounting (NDCC §47-16-07(2)); actual damages only for wrongful withholding (NDCC §47-16-07(3)) — most landlord-favorable northern plains; 3-day pay-or-quit (NDCC §47-32-01). MDU Resources Group: Fortune 500 utility holding company, HQ Bismarck, ~$6.5–7B revenue. Basin Electric Power Cooperative: one of the nation’s largest electric cooperatives, HQ Bismarck, 8,000+ MW, 2.9M customers across 9 states. Dual Level II Trauma: Sanford Bismarck + CHI St. Alexius.

North Dakota rent control status: why no Bismarck ordinance can cap rents

Bismarck is among the most landlord-friendly rental markets in the United States, combining explicit statewide preemption of rent control (since 1981), a 1-month deposit cap protecting tenants from excessive up-front costs, a 30-day return window for landlord documentation, and actual-damages-only wrongful-withholding exposure — the most favorable penalty structure in the northern plains.

NDCC §47-16-07.3 reads: “No county or municipality may enact any ordinance or resolution fixing or regulating the rent charged for real property used for residential purposes.” This language is absolute: no carve-outs, no emergency exceptions, no enabling provision that might allow a future Bismarck City Commission to act on rent regulation. The Legislature preempted the entire field in 1981 and has not revisited the question in four and a half decades.

Unlike California (AB 1482; 5% + CPI statewide cap), Oregon (SB 611; 7% + CPI cap), New York (RSL system), and Minneapolis (3%/year cap enacted 2021), Bismarck landlords face zero constraints on rent increases. Bismarck 2BR rents that ranged $650–$850 in 2018 have grown to $900–$1,350 in 2026 without any regulatory interference — a trajectory driven by energy sector employment, government expansion, and healthcare hiring with no legislative friction.

North Dakota law: Bismarck deposit, notice, and eviction rules

Security deposit: 1-month cap, 30-day return, actual damages — NDCC §47-16-07

North Dakota’s security deposit framework (NDCC §47-16-07) is distinguished by its landlord-favorable wrongful-withholding penalty: actual damages only, with no statutory multiplier.

1-month deposit cap (NDCC §47-16-07(1)): A Bismarck landlord may not collect more than one month’s rent as a security deposit. North Dakota’s 1-month cap matches Nebraska (Neb. Rev. Stat. §76-1416), Kansas (K.S.A. §58-2550), and Hawaii (HRS §521-44(b)). However, an additional pet deposit of up to one month’s rent may be collected if the tenant has a pet (NDCC §47-16-07.1), enabling meaningful risk differentiation for pet-owning tenants.

30-day return deadline (NDCC §47-16-07(2)): After tenancy termination and tenant vacation, the Bismarck landlord must return the deposit balance with a written itemized accounting of all deductions within 30 DAYS. This window is consistent with Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri — a reasonable interval for documentation, contractor estimates, and final invoicing. Compare: Nebraska requires return in just 14 days (the fastest mandatory return deadline in the Midwest); California requires 21 days.

Actual damages only for wrongful withholding (NDCC §47-16-07(3)): A Bismarck landlord who wrongfully withholds the security deposit is liable for actual damages only — there is no statutory multiplier. North Dakota shares this position with Wyoming (Wyo. Stat. §1-21-1209) and Montana (MCA §70-25-206), making the three northern plains states the most landlord-favorable deposit penalty tier in the nation. Compare: Idaho imposes 3× treble damages; Hawaii imposes 3× treble damages; California and Oregon impose 2× double damages; Texas imposes 3× (bad faith + $100 + attorney fees). North Dakota’s actual-damages exposure significantly reduces litigation risk for Bismarck landlords who properly document deductions.

Eviction: 3-day unlawful detainer — NDCC §47-32-01

For non-payment of rent, the Bismarck landlord serves a 3-day written notice to pay rent or vacate (NDCC §47-32-01). North Dakota’s 3-day notice period is among the shortest in the region, matching California, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, and Arkansas, and giving Bismarck landlords faster access to court process than states requiring 5-day (Indiana), 7-day (Michigan, Nebraska, Hawaii), 10-day (DC), or 14-day notices.

Court: Burleigh County District Court, South Central Judicial District, 514 E. Thayer Ave., Bismarck, ND 58501. All Bismarck-proper residential eviction proceedings are filed here. Properties in Mandan (Morton County) are filed at Morton County District Court, 210 2nd Ave. NW, Mandan, ND 58554.

No self-help eviction: North Dakota prohibits self-help eviction under common law. Never change locks, remove doors, cut utilities, or remove tenant belongings without a Writ of Eviction issued by the District Court. Always use the formal process.

MDU Resources Group: North Dakota’s Fortune 500 anchor, headquartered in Bismarck

MDU Resources Group (NYSE: MDU; 1200 W. Century Ave., Bismarck, ND 58503) is North Dakota’s most significant Fortune 500 company and Bismarck’s dominant corporate headquarters employer, with approximately $6.5–7 billion in annual revenue and approximately 10,000–13,000 employees across its business units.

MDU Resources is a diversified energy and services holding company with three primary business groups:

Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. (MDU’s regulated utility subsidiary): Provides natural gas and electric service to approximately 350,000+ customers across North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Montana-Dakota operates electric generation facilities (coal, natural gas, and growing wind) and an extensive natural gas distribution network across the northern plains. It is the primary utility in Bismarck and serves the bulk of the state’s non-oil-patch population.

WBI Energy (pipeline and midstream): Operates natural gas gathering, processing, transportation, and storage assets in the Williston Basin — the core of North Dakota’s Bakken oil-shale formation. WBI Energy’s pipeline network moves gas from producing wells to processing facilities and delivery points throughout the Northern Plains.

Cascade Natural Gas and Intermountain Gas: Pacific Northwest and Intermountain gas distribution utilities serving customers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming — managed from Bismarck’s corporate headquarters.

MDU Resources’ Bismarck headquarters employs energy engineers, regulatory affairs professionals, rate case attorneys, energy traders, financial analysts, information technology specialists, and corporate executives who earn $70,000–$180,000+ annually and rent across all Bismarck submarkets, particularly south Bismarck and the Legacy area where newer professional-class apartments have been built since 2010.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative: the nation’s coal-gasification anchor, headquartered in Bismarck

Basin Electric Power Cooperative (1717 E. Interstate Ave., Bismarck, ND 58503) is one of the largest and most technically sophisticated electric cooperatives in the United States, and Bismarck’s second Fortune-caliber employer by revenue scale.

Basin Electric is a wholesale electric power generation and transmission cooperative that supplies electricity to member cooperatives serving more than 2.9 million people across 9 states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, and Kansas. Basin Electric operates approximately 8,000+ megawatts of generation capacity across a portfolio of coal, natural gas, and wind assets, including:

Antelope Valley Station (Beulah/Hazen, ND): One of the largest coal-fired power plants in the western United States, with approximately 900 megawatts of generation capacity. Antelope Valley is operated in conjunction with Dakota Gas (Great Plains Synfuel Plant).

Dakota Gas / Great Plains Synfuel Plant (Beulah, ND): The ONLY OPERATING COMMERCIAL-SCALE COAL GASIFICATION PLANT IN THE UNITED STATES. Dakota Gas converts lignite coal into synthetic natural gas (SNG) using the Lurgi gasification process, producing approximately 160 million standard cubic feet of SNG per day. The plant has operated since 1984 and is a significant source of carbon dioxide that is sequestered in Saskatchewan via the world’s largest CO2 pipeline for enhanced oil recovery. This facility gives Basin Electric national and international technological prominence.

Dry Fork Station (Gillette, WY): A coal-fired supercritical generating unit (422 MW) that began commercial operation in 2011 and is among the most efficient coal plants in the US.

Basin Electric’s Bismarck headquarters employs approximately 600–1,000 people in energy engineering, power plant operations management, regulatory compliance, cooperative relations, information technology, and executive leadership — a stable, recession-resistant professional-class rental cohort concentrated in south and west Bismarck corridors.

North Dakota state government: Bismarck as the capital-city employer

Bismarck is North Dakota’s state capital and houses the largest concentration of state government employment in North Dakota. The North Dakota State Capitol — the only art deco skyscraper that serves as a state capitol building in the United States, at 19 floors and 241 feet — towers over downtown Bismarck and anchors a government employment district that spans dozens of agencies, departments, and institutions.

North Dakota state government employs approximately 10,000–15,000 people in the Bismarck metro, spanning: the Legislative Assembly (North Dakota’s unicameral-style bicameral legislature, with both chambers meeting in the Capitol); the Office of the Governor; the Office of the Attorney General (Wayne Stenehjem legacy office); the North Dakota Department of Transportation; the North Dakota Department of Human Services (~3,000 statewide); the North Dakota Insurance Department; the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget; the North Dakota Century Code Office; the State Water Commission; and the Department of Corrections (State Penitentiary, east Bismarck).

State government employment provides extraordinarily stable rental demand in Bismarck: legislators, staffers, lobbyists, attorneys, social workers, engineers, and administrative staff who cycle through Bismarck on predictable career tracks, many renting for 2–10 year windows before purchasing homes or transferring. State employees tend to prefer downtown and south Bismarck locations within commuting distance of the Capitol complex.

Sanford Bismarck and CHI St. Alexius Health: dual Level II Trauma centers

Bismarck’s healthcare employment is anchored by two competing Level II Trauma Centers, reflecting its role as the regional medical hub for western and central North Dakota’s farming, ranching, and energy-industry population.

Sanford Bismarck (300 N. 7th St., Bismarck, ND 58501): Sanford Health’s Bismarck campus is a full-service hospital system with a Level II Trauma Center, cardiac catheterization laboratory, oncology services, orthopedics, neurology, and a comprehensive emergency department. Sanford Bismarck employs approximately 2,500–3,000 people in the Bismarck metro, including physicians, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, imaging technologists, surgical technicians, pharmacists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and administrative staff.

CHI St. Alexius Health (900 E. Broadway, Bismarck, ND 58501): The Bismarck flagship of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), one of the largest Catholic health systems in the United States, CHI St. Alexius is a Level II Trauma Center with approximately 3,000–3,500 employees. CHI St. Alexius includes the Herbert G. Birch Cancer Center, the only dedicated cancer center in central North Dakota, as well as a comprehensive cardiac program, neurosurgery, and the state’s largest psychiatric inpatient unit (St. Alexius Medical Center psychiatric wing). CHI St. Alexius also operates numerous clinics and specialty practices throughout western North Dakota.

Together, Sanford Bismarck and CHI St. Alexius employ approximately 5,500–6,500 healthcare workers in Bismarck, generating recession-resistant rental demand across all submarkets at price points ranging from entry-level studios ($650–$850/mo) to professional family units ($1,100–$1,400/mo). Healthcare workers in particular tend to rent in south Bismarck neighborhoods between the two major campuses.

University of Mary and Bismarck State College

University of Mary (7500 University Dr., Bismarck, ND 58504): A private Catholic liberal arts university affiliated with the Benedictine Sisters of the Annunciation, the University of Mary enrolls approximately 3,000–3,500 students in undergraduate and graduate programs including nursing, business, education, engineering, and theology. The University of Mary competes in MIAC athletics (NCAA Division III) and generates steady student rental demand in the Gateway Drive and southwest Bismarck corridors. The University of Mary’s nursing and healthcare programs feed directly into Sanford and CHI St. Alexius employment pipelines — a durable demand link between student and professional rental cohorts.

Bismarck State College (1500 Edwards Ave., Bismarck, ND 58501): A two-year North Dakota University System institution enrolling approximately 4,000–5,500 students in technical, energy, and transfer programs. Bismarck State College has nationally recognized programs in power plant technology, electric power, and energy management — feeding directly into Basin Electric, MDU Resources, and the state’s energy sector. BSC students tend to rent in north Bismarck neighborhoods adjacent to campus.

Bismarck 2026 rental market: neighborhoods and rent ranges

Neighborhood / Area	Primary Demand Driver	2BR Est. 2026
South Bismarck / Legacy Area	MDU Resources, Basin Electric, professionals, new construction	$1,000–$1,350
Downtown / Capitol Corridor	State government workers, attorneys, healthcare proximity	$975–$1,300
Southwest Bismarck / Medical Corridor	CHI St. Alexius Health, healthcare workers, families	$950–$1,250
University of Mary Vicinity	U of Mary students, nursing graduates, Gateway Dr. retail	$850–$1,100
North Bismarck / BSC Area	Bismarck State College, workforce housing, BNSF rail	$875–$1,150
Mandan (Morton County)	Suburban overflow, Heart River area, Morton County law applies	$850–$1,200
Lincoln ND (southeast Burleigh)	Fast-growing suburb, commuters, newer single-family conversions	$950–$1,250
Outer Burleigh County	Rural agricultural, most affordable, long commute to Bismarck core	$700–$950

Bismarck rent trajectory: 2018 to 2026 forecast

Bismarck has seen steady rent growth over the 2018–2026 period driven by state government employment stability, MDU Resources and Basin Electric professional hiring, healthcare system expansion at both Sanford and CHI St. Alexius, and a Bismarck-Mandan metro population growth rate that has outpaced housing supply.

Period	Bismarck 2BR	Mandan 2BR	Market Driver
2018	$650–$850	$625–$825	Stable government + energy base; post-Bakken recovery; affordable
2020 (pandemic onset)	$700–$900	$675–$875	Essential-sector stability (government + healthcare); modest growth
2021–2022 (peak growth)	$800–$1,050	$775–$1,025	Remote-work in-migration; energy sector recovery; construction cost spike
2023	$875–$1,150	$850–$1,100	New supply adds units; CHI St. Alexius expansion; growth moderates
2024	$925–$1,275	$900–$1,200	MDU Resources continued hiring; Sanford Bismarck expansion
2025–2026 (forecast)	$950–$1,350	$900–$1,250	Zero rent control; government + healthcare employment steady; energy corridor growth

North Dakota Century Code compliance checklist for Bismarck landlords

1. No rent cap — full pricing discretion. NDCC §47-16-07.3 (1981) prohibits any municipality from enacting rent control. No North Dakota city has ever done so. Raise rent at lease renewal by any amount with advance written notice as required by the lease. No notice period is specified in NDCC for rent increases — follow the lease terms.
2. 1-month deposit cap (NDCC §47-16-07(1)). Do not collect more than one month’s rent as a security deposit. If the tenant has a pet, you may collect an additional deposit of up to one month’s rent for the pet (NDCC §47-16-07.1). Document pets explicitly in a separate pet deposit addendum attached to the lease.
3. Return deposit within 30 days with itemized accounting (NDCC §47-16-07(2)). Calendar the move-out date the moment you receive notice. Photograph every room, every appliance, every surface before any cleaning or repair begins. Collect contractor estimates within two weeks. Deliver itemized accounting with remaining balance by day 30 of tenancy end and tenant vacation. Note: the 30-day window begins when both conditions are met — tenancy has ended AND tenant has vacated.
4. Actual damages only on wrongful-withholding (NDCC §47-16-07(3)). North Dakota’s actual-damages penalty is the most favorable in the northern plains — but document every deduction. Photographs and contractor invoices are required for all deductions to survive a Burleigh County District Court challenge. Sloppy documentation remains costly even without a multiplier.
5. Serve 3-day pay-or-quit notice (NDCC §47-32-01). For non-payment of rent, serve written 3-day notice to pay or vacate. Then file at BURLEIGH COUNTY DISTRICT COURT, South Central Judicial District, 514 E. Thayer Ave., Bismarck, ND 58501 (for all Bismarck-proper properties). Properties in Mandan: file at Morton County District Court, 210 2nd Ave. NW, Mandan, ND 58554.
6. No self-help eviction. Never change locks, cut utilities, or remove tenant belongings without a court order. Always use the formal Burleigh County District Court eviction process. In the University of Mary and BSC student market, where student tenant organizations may be active, unauthorized self-help can trigger liability far exceeding any short-term gain.
7. Month-to-month termination notice. Provide written notice as required by the lease (typically 30 days) to terminate a month-to-month tenancy. Keep proof of delivery — certified mail with return receipt is standard practice in the Bismarck professional rental market.
8. No deposit interest required. North Dakota does not require interest on security deposits. A standard checking or savings account is sufficient. You are not required to hold deposits in a separate account, though best practices recommend it.

Use RentCeiling to manage your Bismarck rental compliance

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