The document summarizes the opportunities and challenges of working in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. It describes high-paying jobs available but also notes housing is scarce and expensive, infrastructure is strained, and crime has increased. While average salaries can be $71,000 or more, living conditions are difficult with few housing options and man camps housing thousands of workers in barrack-style facilities. The boom has economic benefits but social costs as the small town struggles to handle rapid population growth.

1. Bakken il
American dream or harsh reality?
By Bobbi Serwacki

2. What is Bakken?
• 200,000 sq. miles of land containing oil
• Largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Purdhoe Bay
• Has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on
foreign oil

3. Reasons you may be
considering joining the
boom

4. Employment
• North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the US,
3%
• From 2010 to 2011, Bakken created 12,000 new jobs in the
Williston area

5. Money
• The average salary for an oil field is $71,000
Job Wage
Truck Driver w/ CDL $80-110,000/yr
Oil Field Servicer $76-100,000/yr
Unskilled Laborer $60,000/yr
Exotic Dancer Up to $2,000/night
Taco Johns $15/hr
Convenience Store $10/hr
(CNN Money)

7. The Other Side of the Story

8. The Price You’ll Pay
Housing Crime High cost of
living
Poor Infrastructure
education problems

9. Housing
• Housing is difficult to find
• Hotels are operating at 100% capacity
• Prices have skyrocketed
• Large increase in homelessness
Housing Price
Modest two-bedroom apartment $2000/mo
RV site $700/mo
3 bedroom duplex $6200/mo
Room for rent $500/mo

10. Common living conditions in Williston, ND

11. The largest man camp
Barrack Style Camps houses 3,000 men and
350 full time employees
Laundry facilities,
showers & cafeteria

12. Other styles of camps
Some camps are paid for by employers, most spaces must be rented by
workers—for a high price. Places like these are highly valued and hard to come
by.

13. Trucks make up 30% of town’s The town struggles to keep up
traffic with growth
Life in the Boomtown

14. Growing Pains
• Fastest growing city in America
• Population has doubled since 2010

15. • Very long wait times at the hospital
• Increase in ER visits, STDs
• Sewer system in Williston is near capacity
• Schools are overcrowded and understaffed
• Small businesses struggle to attract employees
• Must compete with oil pay

16. Crime
• Criminal incidents reported to Williston PD tripled from
2010 to 2011
• Increase in alcohol and drug-related incidents
• Assault and battery rose 171% in 2011
(CNN Money)

17. Join the Bakken Boom Try something else
What will you choose?