Several years ago local promoters attempted to "brand" the metropolitan area as "The Grand Cities."

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the population of the Greater Grand Forks metro area was 97,260, of which 50.9% were male and 49.1% were female.

*also has a campus in Thief River Falls, Minnesota See Media in Grand Forks, North Dakota for a list of newspapers, television stations, and radio stations The major daily newspaper is the Grand Forks Herald.

The metropolitan area receives all major broadcast networks over the air, along with cable, and satellite television.

KVLY-TV and KRDK-TV both have news bureaus in Grand Forks, though the stations are based in Fargo.

All of the commercial radio stations in Grand Forks are owned by either Clear Channel Communications or Leighton Broadcasting.