Because of the sky-high rent in North Dakota, Jonelle Philbrick and her boyfriend, Michael, are raising their 13-month old son Branson in a 43-foot RV.

"It is hard to know my little one is growing up in a camper, but I remind myself we are doing this for his future," says Philbrick.

There's a baby boom in North Dakota

Michael was already working for the oil industry, building roads and sites in North Dakota when the two started dating two years ago. She finally moved out there to be with him last year, while pregnant. Two weeks later, she got a job at a grocery store earning more than double what she made as a bartender back home.

Philbrick took three months off for maternity leave, and was lucky that a coworker's mother has been willing to look after Branson when she returned to work. While she misses her family, and living in an RV is not the life she had imagined, being together as a family and bringing in money to provide for Branson is worth it.

"[Branson's] father gets to see him grow, which wouldn't happen if Branson and I were back home," said Philbrick. "I would not change our decisions for the world."