Grand Forks

Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 59,166 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 59,845 in 2024, making it the third-most populous city in the state, after Fargo and Bismarck. Grand Forks, along with its twin city of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, forms the center of the Grand Forks metropolitan statistical area, which is often called Greater Grand Forks or the Grand Cities.

Located on the western banks of the north-flowing Red River of the North, in a flat region known as the Red River Valley, the city is prone to flooding. The Red River Flood of 1997 devastated the city. Originally called Les Grandes Fourches by French fur traders from Canada, who had long worked and lived in the region, steamboat captain Alexander Griggs platted a community after being forced to winter there. The post office was established in 1870, and the town was incorporated on February 22, 1881. The city was named for its location at the fork of the Red River and the Red Lake River.