Saint Cloud Minnesota
About Saint Cloud
St. Cloud (pron.: /ËseɪntËklaÊd/) is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the largest population center in the state's central region; the Mississippi River runs through it. The population was 65,842 at the 2010 census.[7] St. Cloud is the county seat of Stearns County[8] and was named after the city of Saint-Cloud, France (in Ãle-de-France, near Paris), which was named for the 6th-century French monk Clodoald.
Though mostly in Stearns County, St. Cloud also extends into Benton and Sherburne counties. It is the center of a small metropolitan area, with Waite Park, Sauk Rapids, Sartell, and St. Augusta directly bordering the city, and Foley, Rice, Kimball, Clearwater, Clear Lake, Rockville, St. Joseph, and Cold Spring nearby. With 189,093 residents at the 2010 census, the St. Cloud metropolitan area is the third-largest Minnesota population center, behind MinneapolisâSt. Paul and DuluthâSuperior, and slightly ahead of Rochester (with 187,612 residents). (The population of Fargo-Moorhead is also larger than St. Cloud's or Rochester's, but most of it is in North Dakota, with only 58,999 residents in Minnesota.)
St. Cloud is 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the "Twin Cities" of MinneapolisâSt. Paul along Interstate 94, U.S. Route 10, and Minnesota State Highway 23. The St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is made up of Stearns and Benton Counties.[9] The city was included in a newly defined MinneapolisâSt. PaulâSt. Cloud Combined Statistical Area (CSA) in 2000. St. Cloud as a whole has never been part of the 13-county MSA comprising Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington and parts of western Wisconsin,[10] although its Sherburne County portion is considered part of the Twin Cities metropolitan area by Census Bureau definition.[11]
