St. Cloud, Minnesota | |
|---|---|
| Nickname: "The Granite City" | |
 Location within Stearns County and the state of Minnesota | |
  St. Cloud Location within Minnesota Show map of Minnesota St. Cloud Location within the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:45°32′03″N94°10′18″W / 45.53417°N 94.17167°W /45.53417; -94.17167 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Minnesota |
| Counties | Stearns,Benton,Sherburne |
| Founded | 1856[1] |
| Named after | Saint-Cloud, France |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jake Anderson |
| Area | |
• City | 41.23 sq mi (106.78 km2) |
| • Land | 40.17 sq mi (104.04 km2) |
| • Water | 1.06 sq mi (2.74 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,027 ft (313 m) |
| Population | |
• City | 68,881 |
• Estimate (2025)[5] | 71,118 |
| • Rank | US: 542nd MN:12th |
| • Density | 1,714.8/sq mi (662.08/km2) |
| • Urban | 117,638 (US:290th) |
| • Metro | 201,868 (US:229th) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 56301, 56302, 56303, 56304, 56393, 56397, 56398 |
| Area code | 320 |
| FIPS code | 27-56896 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2396483[3] |
| Website | ci.stcloud.mn.us |
St. Cloud orSaint Cloud (/ˈseɪntklaʊd/;French:[sɛ̃klu]) is a city inStearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 68,881 at the2020 census, making it Minnesota's12th-most populous city.[4] St. Cloud is thecounty seat of Stearns County,[6] though it also extends intoBenton andSherburne counties. The city lies along theMississippi River and is named afterSaint-Cloud, a suburb ofParis named for the 6th-century monkClodoald.
TheSt. Cloud metropolitan area has an estimated 206,000 residents and is Minnesota's fifth-largestmetropolitan statistical area. St. Cloud is 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the Twin Cities ofMinneapolis–St. Paul alongInterstate 94,U.S. Highway 52 (conjoined with I-94),U.S. Highway 10,Minnesota State Highway 15, andMinnesota State Highway 23. The St. Cloud metropolitan area is included in the greaterMinneapolis–St. Paul combined statistical area.
St. Cloud is home toSt. Cloud State University, Minnesota's third-largest public university, located near the Beaver Islands, a group of around 30 undeveloped islands in the Mississippi River. These islands, part of a 12-mile designated wild and scenic river segment, attract kayakers and canoeists.[7][8][9] The city also owns and operates Minnesota's largest municipally managedhydroelectric dam on the Mississippi River, which generates nearly nine megawatts of electricity, about 10% of the total output from the state's 11 hydroelectric dams on the river.[10][11][12]
What is now the St. Cloud area was occupied by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years.Voyageurs andcoureurs des bois fromNew France first encountered theOjibwe andDakota through the highly profitableNorth American fur trade with local Native American peoples.[13][14]
TheMinnesota Territory was organized in 1849. The St. Cloud area opened up tohomesteading[15] after theTreaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed with theDakota people in 1851.[16] John L. Wilson, aYankee homesteader fromColumbia, Maine, with FrenchHuguenot ancestry and an interest inNapoleon, named the settlement St. Cloud afterSaint-Cloud, theParis suburb where Napoleon had his favorite palace.[17][18]
St. Cloud was a waystation on the Middle and Woods branches of theRed River Trails used byMétis traders between the Canada–U.S. border atPembina, North Dakota, andSaint Paul, Minnesota. The cart trains often consisted of hundreds of oxcarts known asRed River carts. The Métis, bringing furs to trade for supplies to take back to their rural settlements, camped west of the city and crossed the Mississippi in St. Cloud or just to the north in Sauk Rapids.
The City of St. Cloud was incorporated in 1856. It developed from three distinct settlements, known as Upper Town, Middle Town, and Lower Town, that European-American settlers established starting in 1853.[19] Remnants of the deep ravines that separated the three are still visible today. Middle Town was settled primarily byGerman Catholic immigrants and migrants from eastern states, who were recruited to the region by FatherFrancis Xavier Pierz, a Catholic priest who also ministered as a missionary to Native Americans.
Lower Town was founded by settlers from theNorthern Tier ofNew England and themid-Atlantic states, including former residents of upstate New York.[20] Its Protestant settlers opposed slavery.[21] Upper Town, or Arcadia, was plotted by GeneralSylvanus Lowry, a slaveholder and trader fromKentucky who broughtslaves with him, although Minnesota was organized as a free territory.[22] He served on the territorial council from 1852 to 1853 and was elected president of the newly formed town council in 1856, serving for one year (the office of mayor did not yet exist).[23][22][24]
Jane Grey Swisshelm, an abolitionist newspaper editor who had migrated fromPittsburgh, repeatedly attacked Lowry in print. At one point Lowry organized a "Committee of Vigilance" that broke into Swisshelm's newspaper office and removed her press, throwing it into theMississippi River. Lowry started a rival paper,The Union.[24] In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled inDred Scott that slaves could not filefreedom suits and found theMissouri Compromise unconstitutional, so the territory's prohibition against slavery became unenforceable. Nearly all Southerners left the St. Cloud area when theCivil War broke out, taking their slaves with them. The number of slaves in the community was estimated in single digits at the 1860 census.[24][25] Lowry died in the city in 1865.[26]
Many young men from St. Cloud and the surrounding area served in theUnion Army during the American Civil War.[27] After it ended, many local Civil War veterans remained heavily involved in St. Cloud's chapter of theGrand Army of the Republic, and raised money for the building of a statue in memory ofU.S. PresidentAbraham Lincoln that still stands near the St. Germain Street bridge.[28] Beginning in 1864,Stephen Miller served a two-year term as Minnesota governor, the only citizen of St. Cloud ever to hold the office. Miller was a "Pennsylvania German businessman", lawyer, writer, active abolitionist, and personal friend ofAlexander Ramsey. He was on the state's Republican electoral ticket with Lincoln in 1860.[29]
Steamboats regularly docked at St. Cloud as part of the fur trade and other commerce, although river levels were not reliable. This ended with the construction of theCoon Rapids Dam in 1912–14.Granite quarries have operated in the area since the 1880s, giving St. Cloud its nickname, "The Granite City". In 1917,Samuel Pandolfo started the Pan Motor Company in St. Cloud. He claimed his Pan-Cars would make St. Cloud the newDetroit, but the company failed at a time when resources were directed toward theWorld War I effort. He was later convicted and imprisoned for attempting to defraud investors.[30][31]
According to documents at the Stearns History Museum, more than 2,000 residents from the heavily German-American St. Cloud area served in theU.S. military against their ancestral homeland duringWorld War I.[32] On 26 January 1918, PresidentWoodrow Wilson wrote a letter to BishopJoseph Francis Busch thanking him for his support of the war effort.[33]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 41.08 square miles (106.40 km2); 40.04 square miles (103.70 km2) is land and 1.04 square miles (2.69 km2) is water.[34]
The city developed on both sides of theMississippi River. Part of theSauk River runs along its northern edge.
Just south of downtown is the 7-acre, 35-feet-deep Lake George.[35] In 2021, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) credited decade-long city investments in stormwater filtration with reducing Lake George's phosphorus levels well below the state standard. It called Lake George one of three "success stories" in the state, and planned to remove it from a list of impaired waters.[36]
Granite bedrock quarried in the area has been estimated to be 1.7 billion years old and was exposed after several miles of rock above it eroded. The city lies on a band of modern Mississippi river sediment surrounded by land scoured several times by Wisconsin Age glaciers beginning about 35,000 years ago, ending with the Lake Superior St. Croix lobe. The later Des Moines lobe created glacial moraines and drift south and east of the city.[37]
_-_Saint_Cloud_Area%2c_MN(ThreadEx).svg)
St. Cloud lies in the warm summerhumid continental climate zone (Köppen climate classification:Dfb), with warm summers and cold winters with moderate to heavy snowfall. The monthly normal daily mean temperature ranges from 11.6 °F (−11.3 °C) in January to 70.3 °F (21.3 °C) in July. The record high temperature is 107 °F (42 °C). The record low temperature is −43 °F (−42 °C).[38]
| Climate data forSt. Cloud Regional Airport, Minnesota (1991–2020 normals,[39] extremes 1894–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 56 (13) | 59 (15) | 81 (27) | 96 (36) | 105 (41) | 102 (39) | 107 (42) | 105 (41) | 106 (41) | 90 (32) | 76 (24) | 63 (17) | 107 (42) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 41.9 (5.5) | 45.1 (7.3) | 61.0 (16.1) | 78.1 (25.6) | 88.3 (31.3) | 92.4 (33.6) | 92.6 (33.7) | 90.8 (32.7) | 87.2 (30.7) | 79.3 (26.3) | 59.9 (15.5) | 44.4 (6.9) | 95.1 (35.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 20.7 (−6.3) | 25.7 (−3.5) | 38.5 (3.6) | 54.3 (12.4) | 67.8 (19.9) | 77.2 (25.1) | 81.6 (27.6) | 79.2 (26.2) | 71.0 (21.7) | 55.9 (13.3) | 39.3 (4.1) | 25.8 (−3.4) | 53.1 (11.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 11.8 (−11.2) | 16.1 (−8.8) | 29.2 (−1.6) | 43.3 (6.3) | 56.2 (13.4) | 66.0 (18.9) | 70.3 (21.3) | 67.7 (19.8) | 59.5 (15.3) | 45.7 (7.6) | 30.9 (−0.6) | 17.8 (−7.9) | 42.9 (6.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 2.9 (−16.2) | 6.5 (−14.2) | 19.8 (−6.8) | 32.4 (0.2) | 44.6 (7.0) | 54.8 (12.7) | 58.9 (14.9) | 56.3 (13.5) | 48.0 (8.9) | 35.5 (1.9) | 22.6 (−5.2) | 9.8 (−12.3) | 32.7 (0.4) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −22.5 (−30.3) | −16.2 (−26.8) | −5.0 (−20.6) | 16.7 (−8.5) | 30.1 (−1.1) | 41.3 (5.2) | 47.4 (8.6) | 44.3 (6.8) | 31.1 (−0.5) | 19.6 (−6.9) | 3.2 (−16.0) | −14.8 (−26.0) | −25.1 (−31.7) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −43 (−42) | −40 (−40) | −32 (−36) | −3 (−19) | 18 (−8) | 32 (0) | 40 (4) | 33 (1) | 18 (−8) | 5 (−15) | −23 (−31) | −41 (−41) | −43 (−42) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 0.67 (17) | 0.76 (19) | 1.57 (40) | 2.61 (66) | 3.66 (93) | 3.75 (95) | 3.60 (91) | 4.00 (102) | 3.01 (76) | 2.61 (66) | 1.37 (35) | 0.88 (22) | 28.49 (724) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 8.8 (22) | 8.9 (23) | 8.2 (21) | 4.7 (12) | 0.1 (0.25) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.0 (2.5) | 6.9 (18) | 9.3 (24) | 47.9 (122) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 7.8 | 6.4 | 8.3 | 9.7 | 11.4 | 12.3 | 10.6 | 9.3 | 10.0 | 9.7 | 7.3 | 7.7 | 110.5 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 8.5 | 6.4 | 5.0 | 2.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 8.2 | 36.0 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 70.0 | 66.1 | 67.3 | 65.8 | 62.0 | 67.3 | 67.7 | 69.5 | 73.5 | 68.3 | 73.3 | 75.2 | 68.8 |
| Averagedew point °F (°C) | −0.9 (−18.3) | 4.6 (−15.2) | 17.4 (−8.1) | 30.6 (−0.8) | 40.5 (4.7) | 52.0 (11.1) | 59.2 (15.1) | 56.7 (13.7) | 48.4 (9.1) | 36.1 (2.3) | 23.0 (−5.0) | 12.7 (−10.7) | 31.7 (−0.2) |
| Source: NOAA (relative humidity and dew point 1961–1990)[38][40][41] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 2,161 | — | |
| 1880 | 2,462 | 13.9% | |
| 1890 | 7,686 | 212.2% | |
| 1900 | 8,663 | 12.7% | |
| 1910 | 10,600 | 22.4% | |
| 1920 | 15,873 | 49.7% | |
| 1930 | 21,000 | 32.3% | |
| 1940 | 24,173 | 15.1% | |
| 1950 | 28,410 | 17.5% | |
| 1960 | 32,415 | 14.1% | |
| 1970 | 39,691 | 22.4% | |
| 1980 | 42,566 | 7.2% | |
| 1990 | 48,812 | 14.7% | |
| 2000 | 59,108 | 21.1% | |
| 2010 | 65,842 | 11.4% | |
| 2020 | 68,881 | 4.6% | |
| 2025 (est.) | 71,118 | [5] | 3.2% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[42] 2020 Census[4] | |||
St. Cloud has been a significant destination for immigrants throughout its history, beginning withGerman settlers in the late 19th century, followed by waves of Polish, Irish, and other European immigrants in the early 20th century. Since the late 20th and early 21st century, new residents of the city have predominantly been fromAfrica, particularlySomalia.[43] Unofficial estimates suggest that the number ofSomalis in St. Cloud and the surrounding cities could be as high as 25,000, with approximately half of these having moved to the city between 2009 and 2013. About 15% of the local school district is Somali and many Somalis are enrolled in high schools, colleges, and universities as of 2023. Homeownership among St. Cloud's Somali community is considerably lower than other populations.[44][45]
Over the past two decades, the racial and ethnic landscape of St. Cloud has experienced significant changes. In the year 2000, non-Hispanic White residents made up more than 90% of the population; by 2020, their share had dropped to 67%. Black residents, who accounted for 2% of the population in 2000, were nearly 20% in 2020, marking the most significant growth among all groups. Residents of Hispanic or Latino origin also increased dramatically, nearly quadrupling their numbers over that time.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of May 2020 the annual mean wage for 99,600 employees across all occupations in St. Cloud was $50,800. The median hourly wage was $24.42.[46]
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000[47] | 2010[48] | 2020[49] | ||||
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White alone | 53,857 | 91.12% | 54,854 | 83.31% | 46,641 | 67.71% |
| Black alone | 1,378 | 2.33% | 5,101 | 7.75% | 13,180 | 19.13% |
| Native American alone | 402 | 0.68% | 398 | 0.61% | 337 | 0.49% |
| Asian alone | 1,833 | 3.10% | 2,393 | 3.64% | 2,404 | 3.49% |
| Pacific Islander alone | 31 | 0.05% | 16 | 0.03% | 51 | 0.07% |
| Other race alone | 60 | 0.10% | 54 | 0.08% | 314 | 0.46% |
| Two or more races | 762 | 1.29% | 1,429 | 2.17% | 2,116 | 3.07% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 784 | 1.33% | 1,597 | 2.43% | 2,838 | 4.12% |
| Total | 59,107 | 100.00% | 65,842 | 100.00% | 68,881 | 100.00% |
As of thecensus of 2010, there were 65,842 people, 25,439 households, and 13,348 families residing in the city. Thepopulation density was 1,644.4 inhabitants per square mile (634.9/km2). There were 27,338 housing units at an average density of 682.8 per square mile (263.6/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 84.6%White, 7.8%African American, 0.7%Native American, 3.7%Asian, 0.8% fromother races, and 2.5% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino residents of any race were 2.4% of the population.
There were 25,439 households, of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.6% weremarried couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.5% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.95.
The median age in the city was 28.8 years.[50] 18.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 23.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.5% were from 25 to 44; 21.5% were from 45 to 64; and 10.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 51.5% male and 48.5% female.
As of thecensus of 2000, 27.3% of St. Cloud households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% weremarried couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.00.
The racial makeup of the city was 91.7%White, 2.4%African American, 0.7%Native American, 3.1%Asian, 0.7%other races, and 1.4% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 1.3% of the population.
According to the 2024 City of St. Cloud Economic Development Authority Employment Report, the city's top employers are:[51]
| # | Employer | # of Employees |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | CentraCare Health SystemSt. Cloud Hospital | 6,121 |
| 2 | State of Minnesota /St. Cloud State University | 1,961 |
| 3 | St. Cloud VA Health Care System | 1,749 |
| 4 | St. Cloud School District | 1,247 |
| 5 | New Flyer of America Inc. | 887 |
| 6 | Anderson Trucking | 682 |
| 7 | Stearns County | 648 |
| 8 | Essilor of America | 580 |
| 9 | Coborn's Inc | 545 |
| 10 | City of St. Cloud | 473 |
St. Cloud Hospital, part ofCentraCare Health, was founded in 1886 as St. Benedict's Hospital. The regional health system also includes sixCritical Access hospitals, Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, and numerous outreach and outpatient clinics and services.
Retail options in St. Cloud includeMidtown Square Mall, which features more than 50 tenants, andCrossroads Center, a larger shopping complex with over 100 stores and services.
St. Cloud is home to a variety of notable sites and institutions that reflect its cultural and recreational significance. The St. Cloud Area Convention and Visitors Bureau promotes an area events calendar, dining and lodging information. The city-owned St. Cloud River's Edge Convention Center hosts a variety of events including regional conferences, consumer/trade shows, small group meetings and social events.[citation needed]
TheCathedral of Saint Mary is the largest church in the area. Constructed in the 1920s in the Italian Romanesque style, it serves as the mother church of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud. TheSt. Cloud Commercial Historic District is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places. St. Cloud is aPreserve America Community.[52] The Paramount Theatre and Visual Arts Center, a restored 706-seat venue built in 1921, serves as a focal point for performing and visual arts in the region.[53]
TheGreat River Regional Library serves a six-county area and 32 communities. This expansive system houses nearly one million items—including books, CDs, and DVDs—and provides 250 public computers.[54] It also hosts a wide array of public programs and events. The Stearns History Museum, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, offers two floors of exhibits, a research area, a museum store, and is situated within a 100-acre nature park.[citation needed]Munsinger Gardens and Clemens Gardens features extensive floral displays that date back to the 1930s.[55] The Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the state's history in amateur baseball.[citation needed]
The city is home to:
The city maintains 95 parks, totaling more than 1,400 acres (5.7 km2) and ranging in size from 80 acres (0.32 km2) "neighborhood and mini parks" to 243 acres (0.98 km2). The largest developed park, Whitney Memorial Park, is the former location of the city airport. It features a recreation center for senior citizens, a dog park, and numerous softball, baseball, and soccer fields.
Since 2025, St. Cloud's mayor has been Jake Anderson.[62] TheMinnesota Correctional Facility – St. Cloud, built in 1889, houses nearly 1,000 prisoners.
St. Cloud has been moved by congressional redistricting to a wide variety of Minnesota regions, including northern, south central, northwest and southwest. In Congressional district maps in effect since 2003, it has been grouped with rural areas and suburbs north and west of the Twin Cities.[63] The district had only minor changes in a 2022 map drawn by a five-judge panel based on the 2020 census.[64][65] As of the 2020 census, the city of St. Cloud is the second largest inMinnesota's 6th congressional district, represented by RepublicanTom Emmer. TheSt. Cloud, Minnesota metropolitan area that includes adjacent communities has about a quarter of the 6th district population, though some of the area lies outside the district.
The city makes up the majority of the population of Minnesota State Senate District 14, which straddles the Mississippi River and includes parts of three counties,[66][67] represented byAric Putnam. Minnesota House District 14A includes generally western parts of the city as well asWaite Park,St. Augusta and adjacent rural areas,[68] represented byBernie Perryman. District 14B includes east central and northeast St. Cloud, neighboringSauk Rapids and parts of rural Benton and Sherburne Counties,[69] represented byDan Wolgamott.
In 2016, St. Cloud converted from 5% to 80% renewable energy by using solar gardens, street light improvements, bio-gas, and other energy efficiency initiatives.[70][71] St. Cloud's wastewater plant converts sugar-laden liquids from local food and beer manufacturers into fuel and fertilizer. Since 2020, the city has produced more energy than it consumes.[72]
Kamala Harris won St. Cloud in the2024 presidential election, defeatingDonald Trump, 48.69% to 46.64%. Trump's share of the city's vote was similar to his performance statewide. Harris's share of the city's vote was about two percentage points lower than her statewide performance.[73]Joe Biden won St. Cloud in the2020 presidential election by a margin of 9%, higher than his statewide margin of 7.12%. In2016, Trump won St. Cloud by 1.75% over Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton.[74]
| Year | Republican | Democratic | Third parties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 43.9%14,209 | 52.9%17,149 | 3.2%1,036 |
| 2016 | 45.7%14,401 | 44.0%13,850 | 10.3%3,254 |
| 2012 | 44.5%14,295 | 52.3%16,835 | 3.2%1,032 |
| 2008 | 43.9%14,505 | 53.6%17,688 | 2.5%839 |
| 2004 | 46.9%14,909 | 51.5%16,394 | 1.6%506 |
| 2000 | 43.9%11,647 | 45.0%11,958 | 11.1%2,941 |
| 1996 | 38.0%8,565 | 49.6%11,169 | 12.4%2,783 |
| 1992 | 34.9%9,527 | 41.5%11,331 | 23.6%6,422 |
| 1988 | 46.1%9,251 | 53.9%10,823 | 0.0%0 |
| 1984 | 51.0%10,598 | 49.0%10,189 | 0.0%0 |
| 1980 | 42.4%8,702 | 46.3%9,487 | 11.3%2,236 |
| 1976 | 40.1%8,045 | 55.7%11,176 | 4.2%845 |
| 1972 | 43.0%6,512 | 52.7%7,970 | 4.3%646 |
| 1968 | 40.6%5,389 | 55.5%7,378 | 3.9%515 |
| 1964 | 36.4%4,872 | 63.1%8,439 | 0.5%66 |
| 1960 | 41.5%5,391 | 58.4%7,589 | 0.1%8 |
Almost all of St. Cloud, including the portions in Stearns and Sherburne Counties,[77][78] and much the portion in Benton County, is in theSt. Cloud Public School District. Part of the Benton County portion is in the Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools district.[79]
The St. Cloud Area School District serves St. Cloud, St. Augusta, Clearwater, Waite Park, St. Joseph, Haven Township, and parts of Sauk Rapids.[citation needed] It has eight elementary schools, a new K-8 school in St. Joseph, and two major public high schools, St. CloudTechnical High School and St. CloudApollo High School.[80] St. Cloud also has a major private high school,Cathedral High School. Both public high schools offer a broad selection of Advanced Placement courses and rank high in the state in the number of AP tests taken and of test takers.[81] St. Cloud Tech opened in 1917 across from a city park and Lake George. In 2019, it moved to a new 69-acre, $104 million facility on the southwest edge of the city. The historic 1917 building has been acquired for use by city government. Apollo opened in 1970 and serves the expanding north side of the city. Other high schools and secondary schools that serve St. Cloud include St. Robert Bellarmine's Academy, St. Cloud Christian School, Immaculate Conception Academy,St. John's Preparatory School, St. Cloud Alternative Learning Center, and the charter school STRIDE Academy,[82] which is K-8. The nearby cities of Sauk Rapids and Sartell also have their own school districts and high schools, bringing the number of public high schools in the metropolitan area to four.[citation needed]
St. Cloud is home to several higher education institutions, including Minnesota's third-largest university,St. Cloud State University. St. Cloud State's fall 2020 enrollment was 12,607, in a year affected by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[83]
St. Cloud's other post-secondary institutions and campuses includeSt. Cloud Technical and Community College (SCTCC) andRasmussen College. NeighboringSartell is home to a campus of theDuluth-basedCollege of St. Scholastica, and theCollege of St. Benedict and St. John's University are in neighboring St. Joseph and nearby Collegeville, respectively.[84]
St. Cloud's main newspaper isSt. Cloud LIVE, a weekly founded in February 2023. Its offices are in the old Davidson Opera House in downtown St. Cloud. The staff includes sports editor Andy Rennecke, sports writer Mick Hatten, business reporter Trent Abrego, and education/news reporter Lauren Breunig. St. Cloud LIVE's focus is reporting on news in St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Waite Park, St. Joseph, and elsewhere within a 30-mile radius. Rennecke and Hatten are longtime sports writers in the area, having previously covered local high school sports and college sports for theSt. Cloud Times.
St. Cloud is part of the Twin Cities television market. One full-power station, theIon-ownedKPXM-TV (channel 41), is licensed to the city, but moved its transmitter to the Twin Cities in 2009 as part of the digital transition, and maintains no presence in the city.WCMN-LD (channel 13) is alow-power station licensed to St. Cloud that broadcasts inATSC 3.0. Additionally,St. Cloud State University students operate cable-only UTVS (channel 180), which includes local news and broadcasts from a studio on campus.[85]
Radio stations include:
| AM radio stations | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Call sign | Name | Format | Owner |
| 540 AM | WXYG | The Goat | Classic rock | Tri-County Broadcasting |
| 660 AM | WBHR | The Bear | Sports | |
| 800 AM | WVAL | Classic Country | ||
| 1010 AM | WMIN | Uptown 1010 | Adult Standards | |
| 1180 AM | KYES | Relevant Radio | Catholic | Gabriel Media |
| 1240 AM | WJON | News/Talk | Townsquare Media | |
| 1390 AM | KXSS | 1390 Granite City Sports | Sports | |
| 1450 AM | KNSI | News/Talk | Leighton Broadcasting | |
St. Cloud is a regional transportation hub within Minnesota. Major roadways includingInterstate 94,U.S. Highway 10, and Minnesota State Highways15 and23 pass through the city.[86]
Bus service within the city and to neighboringSartell,Sauk Rapids, andWaite Park is offered throughSt. Cloud Metro Bus, which was recognized in 2007 as the best transit system of its size in North America. An innovative system gives transit buses a slight advantage at stoplights in order to improve efficiency and on-time performance.[87] The Metro Bus Transit Center in the downtown area is also shared withJefferson Lines, providing national bus service.
Bus service links downtown St. Cloud and St. Cloud State University with the western terminus of theNorthstar Commuter Rail line inBig Lake, by the way of Northstar Link Commuter Bus, which in turn links to theMetro Transit bus and light rail system atTarget Field Station in downtownMinneapolis.
Several rail lines run through the city, which isa stop onAmtrak'sEmpire Builder passenger rail line.
St. Cloud is home toSt. Cloud Regional Airport, from which daily connecting flights toMinneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport were made onDelta Connection, operated byMesaba Airlines, until January 1, 2010, when the service was discontinued. On December 15, 2012,Allegiant Air began nonstop flights between St. Cloud Regional Airport andPhoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, on Airbus 319 aircraft.[88]
Spalt,Bavaria, Germany
Akita, Japan
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Data from WikidataPlaces adjacent to St. Cloud, Minnesota | |
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Municipalities and communities ofBenton County, Minnesota,United States | ||
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Municipalities and communities ofSherburne County, Minnesota,United States | ||
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Municipalities and communities ofStearns County, Minnesota,United States | ||
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