North Dakota is state located in both the midwestern and north regions of the United States. It is the 19th largest state at 70,698 square miles and the 47th most populated with just over 750,000 residents. It was admitted to the U.S. as the 39th state in 1889, however South Dakota joined at the same time but is marked as the 40th state to join due to alphabetical order. During the Great Recession, North Dakota had a boom in natural resources that included oil extraction from the Bakken formation. This lead to a increase in jobs and low unemployment and to this day it has the lowest unemployment rate compared to any other state in the U.S.