A plain, one-bedroom apartment in Williston, N.D., rents for $2,100 a month. For this price, you could rent a one-bedroom apartment in New York City.
Williston is not New York City. There are 30,000 residents and one department store. The nearest city is two hours away.
Rents are so high in Williston because the town is in the middle of an oil boom. Unemployment is below 1 percent, and workers are flooding into town.
But the workers, by and large, don't want to stay in Williston.