Stearns County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,292. Its county seat and largest city is St. Cloud.

Included within the Minnesota Territory since 1849, the county was founded by European Americans in 1855. It was originally named for Isaac Ingalls Stevens, then renamed for Charles Thomas Stearns. Stearns County is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Combined Statistical Area.

The Stearns County area was formerly occupied by numerous indigenous tribes, such as the Sioux (Dakota), Chippewa (Ojibwe) and Winnebago (Ho-chunk). The first large immigration was of German Catholics in the 1850s. Early arrivals also came from eastern states. The Wisconsin Territory was established by the federal government effective July 3, 1836, and existed until its eastern portion was granted statehood (as Wisconsin) in 1848.

The federal government set up the Minnesota Territory effective March 3, 1849. The newly organized territorial legislature created nine counties across the territory in October of that year. The original counties had portions partitioned off in 1851 to create Cass County and in 1853 to create Sibley, Pierce, and Nicollet counties. In 1855 parts of those counties were partitioned off to create Stearns County. It was to be named Stevens County for territorial governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens, who had conducted an expedition through the area in 1853, but due to a clerical error, the county was named Stearns for Charles Thomas Stearns, a member of the Territorial Council. (To compensate for this error the area two counties west was later named Stevens County.)

The February 20, 1855, act that created the county directed the naming of three county commissioners and specified St. Cloud as the county seat.

Writing in 1997, Jewish-American historian of America's religious architecture Marilyn J. Chiat commented, "Father Francis X. Pierz, a missionary to Indians in central Minnesota, published a series of articles in 1851 in German Catholic newspapers advocating Catholic settlement in central Minnesota. Large numbers of immigrants, mainly German, but also Slovenian and Polish, responded. Over 20 parishes where formed in what is now Stearns County, each centered on a church-oriented hamlet. As the farmers prospered, the small frame churches were replaced by more substantial buildings of brick or stone such as St. Mary, Help of Christians, a Gothic Revival stone structure built in 1873. Stearns County retains in its German character and is still home to one of the largest rural Catholic populations in Anglo-America."

Furthermore, according to Kathleen Neils Conzen, "Stearns County Germans early established daughter settlements at West Union in Todd County, Millerville in Douglas County, and Pierz in Morrison County, later flooded into North Dakota (where 'Stearns County German' remains a recognized ethnicity today), and in 1905 negotiated with the Canadian authorities to establish the St. Peter Colony in north-central Saskatchewan."

The first courthouse was put into service on July 12, 1864, and it remained in use until the present courthouse was dedicated in 1922. In 1913 a campaign was mounted to shift the county seat to Albany, due to its more central location. The effort was not successful.

Stearns County was also founded off of farmers' markets and crop trades, making it one of the top grossing crop producing counties in the state of Minnesota.

Stearns County borders nine counties. The Mississippi River flows southeast along its northeast border, and the Sauk River drains the central part of the county into the Mississippi at St. Cloud. The county terrain consists of low rolling hills, lightly wooded, dotted with lakes and ponds, and carved with drainages. All available area is devoted to agriculture or has been developed. The terrain slopes to the east and south, with its highest point a local protuberance at 7.6 miles (12.2 km) west and 1.6 miles (2.6 km) south of St. Joseph, at 1,461 ft (445 m) ASL. The county's total area is 1,390 square miles (3,600 km), of which 1,343 square miles (3,480 km) is land and 47 square miles (120 km) (3.4%) is water.

The northeastern border of Stearns County is formed by the Mississippi River. The land consists of rolling hills, scenic lakes, prairies, savannas and woodlands of a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees. Stearns is one of 17 Minnesota savanna region counties with more savanna soils than either prairie or forest soils. The county has 166 lakes.

Source:

• Brooten Municipal Airport (6D1) - east of Brooten
• Paynesville Municipal Airport (PEX) - west of Paynesville
• Sauk Centre Municipal Airport (D39) - south-southeast of Sauk Centre
• St. Cloud Regional Airport (STC) - east-southeast of St. Cloud

Sources:

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1860	4,505		—
1870	14,206		215.3%
1880	21,956		54.6%
1890	34,844		58.7%
1900	44,464		27.6%
1910	47,733		7.4%
1920	55,741		16.8%
1930	62,121		11.4%
1940	67,200		8.2%
1950	70,681		5.2%
1960	80,345		13.7%
1970	95,400		18.7%
1980	108,161		13.4%
1990	118,791		9.8%
2000	133,166		12.1%
2010	150,642		13.1%
2020	158,292		5.1%
2023 (est.)	160,977		1.7%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2020

Stearns County, Minnesota - Demographic Profile
(NH = Non-Hispanic)

Race / Ethnicity	Pop 2010	Pop 2020	% 2010	% 2020
White alone (NH)	136,414	129,276	90.56%	81.67%
Black or African American alone (NH)	4,595	13,224	3.05%	8.35%
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)	392	439	0.26%	0.28%
Asian alone (NH)	2,949	3,159	1.96%	2.00%
Pacific Islander alone (NH)	38	61	0.03%	0.04%
Some Other Race alone (NH)	107	435	0.07%	0.28%
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH)	1,957	4,747	1.30%	3.00%
Hispanic or Latino (any race)	4,190	6,951	2.78%	4.39%
Total	150,642	158,292	100.00%	100.00%

Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

As of the census of 2000, there were 133,166 people, 47,604 households, and 32,132 families in the county. The population density was 99.2 per square mile (38.3/km). There were 50,291 housing units at an average density of 37.4 per square mile (14.4/km). The racial makeup of the county was 95.99% White, 0.83% Black or African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.58% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. 1.37% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 56.9% were of German and 9.4% Norwegian ancestry.

There were 47,604 households, out of which 35.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% were married couples living together, 7.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.50% were non-families. 23.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.15.

The county population contained 25.70% under the age of 18, 16.10% from 18 to 24, 28.00% from 25 to 44, 19.10% from 45 to 64, and 11.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,426, and the median income for a family was $51,553. Males had a median income of $34,268 versus $23,393 for females. The per capita income for the county was $19,211. About 4.30% of families and 8.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.70% of those under age 18 and 8.60% of those age 65 or over.

• Fairhaven
• St. John's University

In its early history Stearns County was heavily Democratic due to being largely German Catholic and opposed to the pietistic Scandinavian Lutheran Republican Party of that era. It did not vote Republican until Theodore Roosevelt swept every Minnesota county in 1904. Anti-Woodrow Wilson feeling from World War I caused the county to shift overwhelmingly to Warren G. Harding in 1920 before swinging to Robert M. La Follette, coreligionist Al Smith and fellow “wet” Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1936 the county's isolationism gave strong support to William Lemke’s Union Party. Stearns County turned Republican until another Catholic nominee, John F. Kennedy, returned it to the Democratic ranks after being one of only 130 counties nationwide to back George McGovern in 1972. Since the “Reagan Revolution”, Stearns County has voted reliably Republican, with no Democrat gaining a majority since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Bill Clinton in 1996 the only one to manage a plurality. The county's growing social conservative bent has fueled the Republican trend.

In 2016 Donald Trump won the county with 59.8% of the vote, the highest percentage any presidential candidate has received since President Eisenhower in 1956. He improved on that in 2020 with 60.1% of the vote, and improved even further in 2024 with 62.3% of the vote.

As of 2024, one city in the county leans Democratic: St. Cloud, the largest city.

United States presidential election results for Stearns County, Minnesota

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2024	53,932	62.25%	30,829	35.59%	1,871	2.16%
2020	50,959	60.07%	31,879	37.58%	1,997	2.35%
2016	47,617	59.83%	25,576	32.13%	6,399	8.04%
2012	43,015	54.81%	33,551	42.75%	1,911	2.44%
2008	41,194	52.31%	35,690	45.32%	1,872	2.38%
2004	41,726	55.21%	32,659	43.21%	1,192	1.58%
2000	32,402	51.86%	24,800	39.70%	5,274	8.44%
1996	21,474	39.01%	24,238	44.03%	9,333	16.96%
1992	22,502	37.92%	21,451	36.15%	15,387	25.93%
1988	27,529	52.85%	23,798	45.68%	766	1.47%
1984	30,216	58.51%	20,944	40.55%	485	0.94%
1980	24,888	48.31%	21,862	42.43%	4,772	9.26%
1976	19,574	40.93%	25,027	52.33%	3,220	6.73%
1972	18,951	45.78%	19,315	46.65%	3,134	7.57%
1968	15,422	45.93%	15,990	47.62%	2,168	6.46%
1964	13,009	40.44%	19,063	59.26%	94	0.29%
1960	13,522	41.50%	19,026	58.40%	33	0.10%
1956	17,364	63.70%	9,829	36.06%	64	0.23%
1952	18,267	64.75%	9,907	35.12%	39	0.14%
1948	10,153	39.50%	15,261	59.37%	292	1.14%
1944	13,298	60.37%	8,647	39.25%	84	0.38%
1940	16,027	63.01%	9,305	36.58%	102	0.40%
1936	5,262	23.30%	12,760	56.51%	4,558	20.19%
1932	4,499	19.52%	18,293	79.36%	258	1.12%
1928	6,459	28.56%	16,104	71.21%	52	0.23%
1924	6,469	37.36%	1,354	7.82%	9,491	54.82%
1920	13,566	86.33%	1,616	10.28%	532	3.39%
1916	4,312	54.44%	3,350	42.29%	259	3.27%
1912	1,134	17.63%	3,317	51.55%	1,983	30.82%
1908	2,614	38.75%	3,835	56.86%	296	4.39%
1904	2,849	50.43%	2,625	46.47%	175	3.10%
1900	2,460	35.55%	4,244	61.33%	216	3.12%
1896	2,873	36.06%	4,911	61.64%	183	2.30%
1892	1,624	23.68%	4,461	65.04%	774	11.28%

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Stearns County, Minnesota

• Mitchell, William Bell. History of Stearns County, Minnesota (2vols.) H.C. Cooper Jr., 1915. Online. Volume 1 and Volume 2
• Simpson, Lee M. A. Stearns County, Minnesota. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2000. Print. ISBN 9780738508337, OCLC 45709208

• Stearns County official website
• Sartell Historical Society - Sartell, MN
• Stearns History Museum official website

45°33′N 94°37′W / 45.55°N 94.61°W / 45.55; -94.61