A Rapidly Evolving Community

Greater St. Cloud is an urban hub of a rural region. Located 65 miles northwest of the Twin Cities, it’s one of fastest-growing communities in Minnesota with a population of nearly 200,000. Developed along the Mississippi River, our community spans across three countries and six cities. Farms dominate the surrounding landscape, there is an abundance of walking trails, parks, and lakes in both urban and rural areas, a strong healthcare system, robust private and public education institutions, as well as many entertainment, dining, and hospitality options.

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“There is no greater power than a
community discovering what it cares about.”

-Margaret Wheatley

The Untold Story of the Greater St. Cloud Region

As part of one of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in Minnesota, our community represents an economic hub for nearly one-sixth of the state. The economy is dominated by healthcare but is diverse in other sectors including: government, manufacturing, business/financial services, construction, career development, transportation, retail, food supply, and entertainment industries. Compared to the rest of the region, our community is younger and more highly educated than average, and thus is viewed as a primary source of talent and innovation.

All population segments have had significant growth, the fastest being the African American population. In particular, the Somali immigrant and refugee population has grown at a rate of 553% between 2000-2017 which outpaced the MN state growth of 90.4% for the same population over the same time.

The region sits in the intersection of three counties (in alphabetical order): Benton, Sherburne, and Stearns. This six-city region includes: Sartell, Sauk Rapids, St. Augusta, St. Cloud, St. Joseph, Waite Park.

Greater St. Cloud is a rapidly evolving community with small-town appeal and big city accommodations.

Dashboard - Coming Soon!

Our complex community story has often been misunderstood and poorly portrayed to the broader world. We believe this stems from a lack of accessible, data-backed information about the region. Aspects of community health, such as access to affordable housing, K-12 education success rates, access to childcare, and more, tell a story of how well our community is performing. But in order to truly understand how we stack up in these areas, we must untangle data sets and go deep to reveal the true context of that data.

That is exactly what Granite Table intends to do with the Community Dashboard project. More information, and access to the Community Dashboard, coming soon!