Stearns County, Minnesota

Stearns County, Minnesota
Stearns County Courthouse
Location in the U.S. state of Minnesota
Minnesota's location in the U.S.
Founded	February 20, 1855[1]
Named for	Charles Thomas Stearns
Seat	St. Cloud
Largest city	St. Cloud
Area
• Total	1,390 sq mi (3,600 km2)
• Land	1,343 sq mi (3,478 km2)
• Water	47 sq mi (122 km2), 3.4%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	154,708
• Density	112/sq mi (43/km²)
Congressional districts	6th, 7th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.stearns.mn.us

Stearns County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2010 census, the population was 150,642.^[2] Its county seat is Saint Cloud.^[3] The county was founded in 1855. It was supposed to be named after Isaac Ingalls Stevens, but a clerical error changed the name to Stearns, after Charles Thomas Stearns.

Stearns County is part of the St. Cloud, MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI Combined Statistical Area.

History

The area that is currently Stearns County was formerly occupied by numerous indigenous tribes, such as the Sioux (Dakota), Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Winnebago (Ho-chunk). The first large immigration was of German Catholics in the 1850s. Early arrivals also came from eastern states. Originally, the county was supposed to be named Stevens County after Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens who conducted an area expedition in 1853. However, due to a clerical error, the county was named Stearns after Charles Thomas Stearns who was a member of the Territorial Council. (Later, the area two counties west was named Stevens County, to compensate for this clerical error.)

Politics

Geography

Native vegetation based on NRCS soils information^[4]

Soils of Padua area, Stearns County

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,390 square miles (3,600 km²), of which 1,343 square miles (3,480 km²) is land and 47 square miles (120 km²) (3.4%) is water.^[5]

The East border of Stearns County is the Mississippi River. The land consists of rolling hills, scenic lakes, prairies, savannas and woodlands of a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees. Stearns is one of 17 Minnesota savanna region counties with more savanna soils than either prairie or forest soils. Example of native vegetation: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SJU_Native_Vegetation_New_Wiki_Version.JPG There are 166 lakes in the county of Stearns.

Major highways

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Age pyramid of county residents based on 2000 U.S. census data

As of the census of 2000, there were 133,166 people, 47,604 households, and 32,132 families residing in the county. The population density was 99 people per square mile (38/km²). There were 50,291 housing units at an average density of 37 per square mile (14/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.99% White, 0.83% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.58% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. 1.37% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 56.9% were of German and 9.4% Norwegian ancestry.

There were 47,604 households out of which 35.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% were married couples living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.50% were non-families. 23.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.70% under the age of 18, 16.10% from 18 to 24, 28.00% from 25 to 44, 19.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 101.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,426, and the median income for a family was $51,553. Males had a median income of $34,268 versus $23,393 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,211. About 4.30% of families and 8.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

Townships

Unincorporated communities

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Stearns County, Minnesota

References

External links

• Stearns County official website
• Sartell Historical Society - Sartell, MN
• Stearns History Museum official website

	Douglas County	Todd County and Morrison County
	Pope County		Benton County and Sherburne County
		Stearns County, Minnesota
		Meeker County and Kandiyohi County	Wright County

Municipalities and communities of Stearns County, Minnesota, United States
County seat: St. Cloud
Cities	Albany Avon Belgrade Brooten‡ Clearwater‡ Cold Spring Eden Valley‡ Elrosa Freeport Greenwald Holdingford Kimball Lake Henry Meire Grove Melrose New Munich Paynesville Richmond Rockville Roscoe Sartell‡ Sauk Centre Spring Hill St. Anthony St. Augusta St. Cloud‡ St. Joseph St. Martin St. Rosa St. Stephen Waite Park
Townships	Albany Ashley Avon Brockway Collegeville Crow Lake Crow River Eden Lake Fair Haven Farming Getty Grove Holding Krain Lake George Lake Henry Le Sauk Luxemburg Lynden Maine Prairie Melrose Millwood Munson North Fork Oak Paynesville Raymond Sauk Centre Spring Hill St. Joseph St. Martin St. Wendel Wakefield Zion
CDP	Fairhaven
Unincorporated communities	Collegeville Farming Georgeville Jacobs Prairie Marty Opole Padua St. Anna St. Francis St. Nicholas St. Wendel
Footnotes	‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

St. Cloud, Minnesota Metropolitan Area
Core City	St. Cloud‡
Surrounding communities	(over 1,000) Albany Avon Clearwater‡ Cold Spring Eden Valley‡ Foley Melrose Paynesville Rice Richmond Rockville Royalton‡ St. Augusta St. Joseph Sauk Centre Sauk Rapids Waite Park (under 1,000) Belgrade Brooten‡ Elrosa Fairhaven§ Freeport Gilman Greenwald Holdingford Kimball Lake Henry Meire Grove New Munich Ronneby§ Roscoe St. Anthony St. Martin St. Rosa St. Stephen Spring Hill
Counties	Benton Stearns
‡ indicates that it is partially in the metropolitan area. § indicates a CDP

State of Minnesota
Saint Paul (capital)
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Regions	Arrowhead Boundary Waters Buffalo Ridge Central Coteau des Prairies Dissected Till Plains Driftless Area Iron Range Minnesota River Valley North Shore Northwest Angle North Woods Pipestone Red River Valley Siouxland Southeast Twin Cities metropolitan area
Largest cities pop. over 25,000	Andover Apple Valley Blaine Bloomington Brooklyn Center Brooklyn Park Burnsville Chaska Coon Rapids Cottage Grove Duluth Eagan Eden Prairie Edina Fridley Inver Grove Heights Lakeville Mankato Maple Grove Maplewood Minneapolis Minnetonka Moorhead Oakdale Owatonna Plymouth Prior Lake Ramsey Richfield Rochester Roseville St. Cloud St. Louis Park Saint Paul Savage Shakopee Shoreview Winona Woodbury
Counties	Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami Benton Big Stone Blue Earth Brown Carlton Carver Cass Chippewa Chisago Clay Clearwater Cook Cottonwood Crow Wing Dakota Dodge Douglas Faribault Fillmore Freeborn Goodhue Grant Hennepin Houston Hubbard Isanti Itasca Jackson Kanabec Kandiyohi Kittson Koochiching Lac qui Parle Lake Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Lyon Mahnomen Marshall Martin McLeod Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison Mower Murray Nicollet Nobles Norman Olmsted Otter Tail Pennington Pine Pipestone Polk Pope Ramsey Red Lake Redwood Renville Rice Rock Roseau Saint Louis Scott Sherburne Sibley Stearns Steele Stevens Swift Todd Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca Washington Watonwan Wilkin Winona Wright Yellow Medicine

Coordinates: 45°33′N 94°37′W / 45.55°N 94.61°W / 45.55; -94.61