The story
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.
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 2.52 inhabitants per square mile (1.0/km2). There were 1,091 housing units at an average density of 1.53 per square mile (0.6/km2). 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 2.8 inhabitants per square mile (1.1/km2). There were 1,171 housing units at an average density of 1.6 per square mile (0.6/km2). 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.
Read the full text
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.
From Wikipedia’s article on Steele County, North Dakota, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4