NORTH DAKOTA

Bloomberg also reported that North Dakota was the only state in the nation to experience a positive economic index. With the exception of North Dakota, economic conditions in all other states are worse than they were at the end of 2008, according to the study.

North Dakota has either tied for or had the lowest unemployment in the country since 2008.

Believe it or not, a place exists where companies are hiring like crazy, and you can make $15 an hour serving tacos, $25 an hour waiting tables and $80,000 a year driving trucks.

The paper calls the flaring, occurring in the Bakken oil field, "a step backward for a domestic energy industry."

Forget the Texas Miracle. Let’s instead take a look at North Dakota, which has the lowest unemployment rate and the fastest job growth rate in the country.

Dan Kalil still remembers a nightmare he had once as a child. In it, he envisioned looking out over his family’s North Dakota farm and seeing it swarmed with strangers, bustling with unknown activity that filled the farm with a strange light. Kalil says the dream has stuck with him in the decades since. The eerie thing is that it came true.

Part of what’s made North Dakota grow is its positive business climate, Anderson said. Legislators returned $500 million in income, property and corporate taxes to its taxpayers.