Wahpeton is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Wahpeton to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy.
One of the benefits of Wahpeton is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.95 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small city, Wahpeton does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The education level of Wahpeton citizens is a little higher than the average for US cities and towns: 22.76% of adults in Wahpeton have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Wahpeton in 2022 was $30,451, which is low income relative to North Dakota, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $121,804 for a family of four. However, Wahpeton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Wahpeton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wahpeton residents report their race to be White, followed by Native American. Important ancestries of people in Wahpeton include German, Norwegian, Irish, English, and Russian.
The most common language spoken in Wahpeton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Slavic languages and Italian.
