Williston, N.D., Oil Boom Means Rents as High as New York City's

Williston, N.D., is a small town barely on anyone's radar -- but you'll pay as much as you would in New York City to rent an apartment there. Williston has been enjoying an oil boom and people have been flocking to the town to take advantage of good-paying jobs. As a result, living costs have skyrocketed -- with one very plain one-bedroom apartment asking $2,100 a month to rent, National Public Radio reported.

You'd never guess such high demand for housing would drive rent prices in Williston as high as you'd find in the posh neighborhoods of Manhattan. The town has no more than 30,000 residents, and there's only one department store. As the Williston Herald reported, apartments that used to rent for $400 a month five years ago are going for four times that today, and homes that sold for $60,000 are now on the market for $200,000. That's a problem particularly for senior citizens in the area, whose fixed incomes can't keep up with the costs of housing in the oil boom.

NPR noted that many people moving to Williston for jobs in the oil boom don't bring their families with them because of the town's lack of amenities. Williston is hoping to change that, recently breaking ground on a $72 million rec center that will feature basketball courts, a golf simulator and other facilities.

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