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Where am ILOCATED

St. Cloud, MN Metro Area

The St. Cloud, MN metro area is made up of 2 counties in Minnesota: Stearns and Benton. About 205,854 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 3.1% more than in April 2020.

Benton County, centralStearns County, centralSt. Cloud
2 counties in Minnesota
Population, July 2025
205,854 3.1% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
Counties
2, both central
Land area
1,751 sq mi (4,536 km²)
Time zone
Central TimeUTC-06:00 in January; UTC-05:00 in July
State
Minnesota
Combined statistical area
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI
CBSA code
41060
Open this area in the metro area finder

Counties in the St. Cloud, MN metro area, largest first

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025Share of the area
Stearns CountyCentral164,11079.7%
Benton CountyCentral41,74420.3%

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. St. Cloud70,629 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI combined statistical area

OMB joins neighboring metro and micro areas into a combined statistical area when enough people commute between them. The other 5 areas in this one, largest first:

  1. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area3,790,295 people
  2. Faribault-Northfield, MN Micro Area69,939 people
  3. Red Wing, MN Micro Area48,195 people
  4. Owatonna, MN Micro Area37,464 people
  5. Hutchinson, MN Micro Area36,631 people

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Willmar, MN Micro Area51 mi southwest
  2. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area59 mi southeast
  3. Alexandria, MN Micro Area63 mi northwest

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗