While the oil country to its west rides the wild swings of the crude price, the capital city of Bismarck enjoys a rarer plains commodity: economic steadiness. Anchored by the payrolls of state government and a large regional healthcare sector, the city and its neighbor across the river are cushioned against the busts that batter the boomtowns, growing not in leaps but in a reliable, unhurried way.

The Virtue of a Steady Paycheck

The tall capitol — the skyscraper on the prairie, as it is fondly called — presides over a workforce of agencies, courts and offices whose paychecks do not vanish when the rig count falls. Around them cluster the hospitals, clinics and services that make Bismarck the medical and commercial hub for a wide swath of the state's center.

From the almanac's reckoning:

• State government and healthcare anchor Bismarck's economy.
• The capital is cushioned against the oil country's boom-and-bust swings.
• Bismarck is the medical and commercial hub of the state's center.

It is not a glamorous economy, but it is a durable one, and durability is no small virtue on the plains. The almanac counts Bismarck's steadiness among the region's underappreciated strengths — a city that grows by keeping its footing while others soar and stumble.