How this list was compiled: Items made on 2026-09-26; names, ids and accepted spellings are Natural Earth's. Licence: public domain (work of the United States government, 17 U.S.C. 105): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2023/TGRSHP2023_TechDoc_Ch1.pdf; public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
The drawing: Drawn for this site from U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_county_5m (scale 1:5,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/shp/cb_2023_us_county_5m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-19. Surrounding land from U.S. Census Bureau 2023 cartographic boundary file cb_2023_us_state_5m (scale 1:5,000,000), https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/GENZ2023/shp/cb_2023_us_state_5m.zip, downloaded 2026-09-19 and from Natural Earth 5.1.2, ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes (scale 1:10,000,000), https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvkelso/natural-earth-vector/v5.1.2/geojson/ne_10m_admin_0_countries_lakes.geojson, downloaded 2026-09-19. Albers equal-area conic projection, central meridian 99.2°W, standard parallels 46.4°N and 48.5°N. Outlines simplified; small islands are left out. Licence: public domain (work of the United States government, 17 U.S.C. 105): https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/maps-data/data/tiger/tgrshp2023/TGRSHP2023_TechDoc_Ch1.pdf; public domain (Natural Earth terms of use: https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/)
How it works
This blank map of North Dakota shows all 53 counties of North Dakota, from Adams to Williams, with Bismarck, the capital, in Burleigh County; with Borders off it prints the plain outline.
Read the full guide
Blank, numbered or named
Blank prints the 53 shapes with nothing written; Numbered puts 1 on Adams and 53 on Williams, in alphabetical order; Named prints every name, and Print the answer key gives the list.
North Dakota on the map
McKenzie County, in the west on the Missouri River, is the largest county. Its neighbors, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana and Canada, are drawn around it without numbers.
Most counties are rectangles; start with Burleigh and Morton on either side of the Missouri at Bismarck.
Questions and answers
How many counties does North Dakota have?
Fifty-three in the Census Bureau count, from Adams County to Williams County in alphabetical order.
What county is Bismarck in?
Bismarck stands in Burleigh County, which is number 8 on the numbered sheet. Have students find it first and write Bismarck beside it.
Which is the largest county in North Dakota?
McKenzie County, in the western oil country along the Missouri River. Cass County, around Fargo, has the most people.
Which county of North Dakota has the most people?
Cass County, around Fargo, has more people than any other county in North Dakota, while the capital, Bismarck, is in Burleigh County.