How Much Life Insurance Do I Need in North Dakota?

A year at a public four-year university in North Dakota costs about $18,989NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 330.20, public 4-year in-state tuition, fees, room and board, academic year 2022-23Verified Oct 3, 2026View source with tuition, fees, room and board; a four-year degree about $75,956NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 330.20, public 4-year in-state tuition, fees, room and board, academic year 2022-23Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. Education funding is one of the four DIME components.

No. North Dakota levies no estate tax and no inheritance taxNo state estate or inheritance tax payable. The estate tax (N.D.C.C. ch. 57-37.1) remains codified but is a pick-up tax: § 57-37.1-04(1) sets it equal to the federal credit for state death taxes, which has been $0 since EGTRRA, so no estate tax is paid on deaths after 1/1/2005. Inheritance tax repealed 1927 (N.D. Office of State Tax Commissioner)Verified Sep 15, 2026View source. Only the federal estate tax applies, above $15,000,00026 USC 2001(c), 2010; P.L. 119-21 §70106Verified Sep 15, 2026View source per person, so for most North Dakota households life insurance planning is about income replacement and debt, not tax.

North Dakota's cost of living index is 0.89BEA Regional Price Parities, all items, by state, 2024Verified Oct 3, 2026View source, where 1.00 is the national average: 11% below the U.S. averageBEA Regional Price Parities, all items, by state, 2024Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. A median home costs $292,293Zillow Home Value Index, state, smoothed and seasonally adjusted, August 2026Verified Oct 3, 2026View source and a year of childcare $12,281Child Care Aware of America, Child Care in America: Price and Supply, center-based infant care, 2025 report (CO, DC, NM and SC carry the most recent earlier edition)Verified Oct 3, 2026View source. Income replacement is figured on actual income, which already reflects local costs; the index is the context for the debts and the years the coverage has to carry.

The beneficiary designation on the policy, not the will or the trust, decides who receives the proceeds. North Dakota's rules on divorce revocation, spousal consent and the per-stirpes default can change the outcome, and an outdated designation stays in force whatever the other documents say. The North Dakota beneficiary designation checker applies those rules.