St. Cloud, Tri-Counties Population Grew In Past Decade

UNDATED -- The St. Cloud area continued to gain population over the past decade.

The U.S. Census Bureau released data for Minnesota cities and counties today (Wednesday).  According to the 2010 Census, the city of St. Cloud grew 11.4% to 65,842 people.  St. Cloud is now the 8th largest city in the state, up from #11 in 2000.  15% of St. Cloud's population is minority.

Meanwhile, Sherburne County continued to be one of the fastest growing counties in the state.  It grew by 37% over the past 10-years, and now has a population of 88,500.  Stearns County grew 13.1% to over 150,000.  And Benton county grew 12.3% to over 38,000.

Minnesota's once-a-decade redistricting fight is heating up with the release of 2010 Census data that will be used to re-draw the state's eight congressional districts and other voting boundaries.

Data released Wednesday shows the populations of those congressional districts and how much they will need to change. By law, the districts must have about equal populations of about 663,000. How the districts are re-drawn will have implications for each party's political strength in the district.

The new figures show the population soared in the 6th District that stretches from St. Cloud to Stillwater and in the suburban 2nd District. Together they will need to lose more than 160,000 people.

Meanwhile, the population of the urban districts covering Minneapolis and St. Paul held about steady.