Apartment Guide recently revealed the cities with the highest average rent in the nation, and surprisingly, Williston, ND beat out much larger metropolis areas like Los Angeles and New York. Dickinson also made the list, ranking fourth highest in the country. The oil boom has shifted the landscape of the state so dramatically that the state's infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the unrelenting housing demand as people flock from all over the country to make a living.

A 700-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment in Williston will run you nearly $2,400 a month, while the same apartment would cost about $1,504 in the greater New York area, $1,411 in the Los Angeles area, and $1,537 in the Boston area.

Experts have estimated that Williston's population has nearly doubled since 2010, when the census reported the city housed 14,700 residents. The population is now estimated to be over 30,000, with close to 50,000 people being served by its infrastructure.

Pam Winter, Apartment Guide’s Regional Sales Executive for North Dakota, explained the reasoning for the sky-high prices:

A lot of management companies have long-term projects projected, as long as the demand and infrastructure are there. Projects that will be 300 units by the end of the year are looking to be 800 if it continues to boom. Currently, I have not seen many concessions, and one of the developers raised his rent in January.

Here's how the top ten breaks down:

  1. Williston, N.D. ($2,394)
  2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif. ($1,881)
  3. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Calif. ($1,776)
  4. Dickinson, N.D. ($1,733)
  5. Key West, Fla. ($1,640)
  6. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H. ($1,537)
  7. New York,-Northern New Jersery-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Penn. ($1,504)
  8. Los Angeles-Long-Beach-Santa Ana, Calif. ($1,411)
  9. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif. ($1,387)
  10. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif. ($1,346)

Other notable North Dakota cities are Minot ($1,207), Bismarck ($686), Fargo ($671), and Grand Forks ($564).

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