St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota: Populist metro. In 2024, voted R+29%. Republican peak: R+74 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+29MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- PopulistAkashic typology
- Population
- 202,4582024 5-year
- Median household income
- $76,5202024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 82.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 8.4%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.5%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+58 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+74 in 1920MIT Election Lab
Constituent county margins for St. Cloud, MN, MNOne cell per constituent county, colored by 2024 presidential margin from deep red (Republican) through neutral to deep blue (Democratic), ordered bluest first.
R+60D+60
One cell per constituent county. Ordered by 2024 D-vs-R margin (bluest first). Hover for county-level numbers.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 37,913 | 69,192 | 109,455 | ||
| R | 39,159 | 65,341 | 107,095 | ||
| R | 31,216 | 60,489 | 99,650 | ||
| R | 41,724 | 53,864 | 98,096 | ||
| R | 44,144 | 51,532 | 98,095 | ||
| R | 40,718 | 51,769 | 93,961 | ||
| R | 30,809 | 40,065 | 77,384 | ||
| D | 30,244 | 26,309 | 68,278 | ||
| R | 26,607 | 27,555 | 73,711 | ||
| R | 29,659 | 33,589 | 64,133 | ||
| R | 25,866 | 37,046 | 63,528 | ||
| R | 27,134 | 30,401 | 63,304 | ||
| D | 31,262 | 23,673 | 58,786 | ||
| R | 23,597 | 23,603 | 50,826 | ||
| D | 20,012 | 18,892 | 41,596 | ||
| D | 23,742 | 15,827 | 39,686 | ||
| D | 23,201 | 16,846 | 40,096 | ||
| R | 12,438 | 20,955 | 33,473 | ||
| R | 12,494 | 22,123 | 34,689 | ||
| D | 18,893 | 12,450 | 31,721 | ||
| R | 10,905 | 16,286 | 27,293 | ||
| R | 12,047 | 19,518 | 31,695 | ||
| D | 15,871 | 7,045 | 28,393 | ||
| D | 22,194 | 5,828 | 28,400 | ||
| D | 18,836 | 8,832 | 27,741 | ||
| O | 1,926 | 8,098 | 21,202 | ||
| R | 2,170 | 16,486 | 19,418 | ||
| R | 4,295 | 5,332 | 9,999 | ||
| D | 3,879 | 1,602 | 8,354 | ||
| D | 4,600 | 3,615 | 8,595 | ||
| R | 3,058 | 4,054 | 7,325 | ||
| D | 4,995 | 3,309 | 8,566 | ||
| D | 5,778 | 3,651 | 9,636 | ||
| R | 2,050 | 5,038 | 8,521 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
38.4%
Irish
7.8%
Polish
6.3%
English
4.1%
American
2.6%
French
2.0%
Italian
0.9%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 35.3 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$76,520
St. Cloud, MN ranks near the middle of US counties.
St. Cloud, MN$76,520
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.3%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1812.7%
Working age (18–64)12.0%
Seniors (65+)13.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
89.3%
speak English only
Other languages5.0%
Spanish3.0%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.4%
Other Indo-European1.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 47.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
St. Cloud's Stearns County core has shifted from competitive territory to deep-red margins over roughly 15 years, a trajectory driven partly by demographic change and the region's large Somali-American resettlement population reshaping local political debate.
The Democratic margin in St. Cloud, MN peaked at fifty-eight points in 1932. By 2000 the metro had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-nine points, the most Republican-leaning result in the metro's modern history.
The economic context is the key. The median household income of $76,520 sits well below state and national norms, and 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country.
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://tiers.akashic.app/cbsa/41060/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
Frequently asked questions
How did St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota voted Republican by 28.6 points (R+29), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 109,455 votes cast, 37,913 went Democratic and 69,192 went Republican.
What is St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota's political archetype?
Akashic classifies St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota as a "Populist" metro based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the metro has voted Democratic 13 times, Republican 20 times, and other 1 times.
When did St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota?
St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota has a population of 202,458 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota?
Median household income in St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota is $76,520 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in St. Cloud, MN, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 13 went Democratic and 20 went Republican. The metro's archetype — "Populist" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.