General Information
Stearns County is home to 30 cities. The smallest is St. Rosa and the largest is St. Cloud, which also serves as the County Seat. Many of the County's smaller cities are located near recreational lakes, while others serve as prominent anchors to the County's important agribusiness community.
In addition, Stearns County is home to 34 townships. While many townships in eastern Stearns County are experiencing great urban development, western townships continue to be primarily agricultural. Populations in these western townships have actually declined in recent years as farms and agricultural business consolidate.
Stearns shares its County Seat, the city of St. Cloud, with Benton and Sherburne Counties. To learn more about the County's neighbors, please visit www.co.benton.mn.us and www.co.sherburne.mn.us.
Population
The population in Stearns County has shown steady growth in the past 30 years and is projected to continue to grow at a similar rate in the next 30 years. Population grew at an overall rate of almost 40 percent from 1970-2000.
Population growth has been primarily driven by natural increases in Stearns County. In other words, births have outnumbered deaths in recent years. Stearns County has also experienced a modest increase in the number of immigrants from other counties and states.
1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2030* |
95,400 | 108,161 | 118,791 | 133,166 | 150,642 | 177,380 |
* Projected estimate, data courtesy of Stearns HRA
There are two characteristics of Stearns County's population worth noting. First, the population here tends to be overall younger than Minnesota as a whole. Stearns County is home to several colleges, universities and technical schools which bring many young adults to the area. While 13.6 percent of Minnesota's population is in the 15-24 year old range, Stearns County has 19.5 percent of its population in that age range. The second notable characteristic is that Stearns has an educated workforce, with about 28.8 percent of the population possessing a high school degree, 33.1 percent some college, and 19.4 percent with a bachelor's degree or beyond.