Bismarck is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's 2nd most populous city, after Fargo. The population was 73,622 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 74,445 in 2022, while its metropolitan population was 133,626. In 2020, Forbes magazine ranked Bismarck as the seventh fastest-growing small city in the United States.

North Dakota is a landlocked U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana to the west. North Dakota is part of the Great Plains region, characterized by broad prairies, steppe, temperate savanna, badlands, and farmland. North Dakota is the 19th largest state, but with a population of less than 780,000, it is the 4th least populous and 4th most sparsely populated. The state capital is Bismarck while the most populous city is Fargo, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the state's population; both cities are among the fastest-growing in the U.S., although half of all residents live in rural areas.