Stearns County, Minnesota: Sunbelt Conservative county. In 2024, voted R+27%. Republican peak: R+76 in 1920.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+27MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- Sunbelt ConservativeAkashic typology
- Population
- 160,8652024 5-year
- Median household income
- $77,0662024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 81.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 9.1%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.8%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+60 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+76 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Crow Wing County, MN · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Stearns CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Stearns County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | −41.4% |
| 1896 | +25.6% |
| 1900 | +25.8% |
| 1904 | −4.0% |
| 1908 | +18.1% |
| 1912 | +33.9% |
| 1916 | −12.1% |
| 1920 | −76.0% |
| 1924 | −29.5% |
| 1928 | +42.6% |
| 1932 | +59.8% |
| 1936 | +33.2% |
| 1940 | −26.4% |
| 1944 | −21.1% |
| 1948 | +19.9% |
| 1952 | −29.6% |
| 1956 | −27.6% |
| 1960 | +16.9% |
| 1964 | +18.8% |
| 1968 | +1.7% |
| 1972 | +0.9% |
| 1976 | +11.4% |
| 1980 | −5.9% |
| 1984 | −18.0% |
| 1988 | −7.2% |
| 1992 | −1.8% |
| 1996 | +5.0% |
| 2000 | −12.2% |
| 2004 | −12.0% |
| 2008 | −7.0% |
| 2012 | −12.1% |
| 2016 | −27.7% |
| 2020 | −22.5% |
| 2024 | −26.7% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 30,829 | 53,932 | 86,631 | ||
| R | 31,879 | 50,959 | 84,835 | ||
| R | 25,576 | 47,617 | 79,592 | ||
| R | 33,551 | 43,015 | 78,477 | ||
| R | 35,690 | 41,194 | 78,756 | ||
| R | 32,659 | 41,726 | 75,577 | ||
| R | 24,800 | 32,402 | 62,476 | ||
| D | 24,238 | 21,474 | 55,045 | ||
| R | 21,451 | 22,502 | 59,340 | ||
| R | 23,798 | 27,529 | 52,093 | ||
| R | 20,944 | 30,216 | 51,645 | ||
| R | 21,862 | 24,888 | 51,522 | ||
| D | 25,027 | 19,574 | 47,821 | ||
| D | 19,315 | 18,951 | 41,400 | ||
| D | 15,990 | 15,422 | 33,580 | ||
| D | 19,063 | 13,009 | 32,166 | ||
| D | 19,026 | 13,522 | 32,581 | ||
| R | 9,829 | 17,364 | 27,257 | ||
| R | 9,907 | 18,267 | 28,213 | ||
| D | 15,261 | 10,153 | 25,706 | ||
| R | 8,647 | 13,298 | 22,029 | ||
| R | 9,305 | 16,027 | 25,434 | ||
| D | 12,760 | 5,262 | 22,580 | ||
| D | 18,293 | 4,499 | 23,050 | ||
| D | 16,104 | 6,459 | 22,615 | ||
| O | 1,354 | 6,469 | 17,314 | ||
| R | 1,616 | 13,566 | 15,714 | ||
| R | 3,350 | 4,312 | 7,921 | ||
| D | 3,317 | 1,134 | 6,434 | ||
| D | 3,835 | 2,614 | 6,745 | ||
| R | 2,625 | 2,849 | 5,649 | ||
| D | 4,244 | 2,460 | 6,920 | ||
| D | 4,911 | 2,873 | 7,967 | ||
| R | 1,624 | 4,461 | 6,859 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
German
37.9%
Irish
7.7%
Polish
5.1%
English
3.9%
American
2.6%
French
1.9%
Italian
1.1%
African American
7.3%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
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.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 35.1 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.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$77,066
Stearns County ranks in the top 25% of US counties.
Stearns County$77,066
Minnesota$89,062
United States$80,734
Stearns County ranks in the top 25% of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
12.9%
Child poverty is below the national average.
Children under 1813.3%
Working age (18–64)12.6%
Seniors (65+)14.8%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
88.0%
speak English only
Other languages5.8%
Spanish3.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.6%
Other Indo-European1.4%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 47.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Stearns County, anchored by St. Cloud, combines a substantial Catholic German-heritage rural base with a mid-sized urban core, producing Republican presidential margins that have widened consistently over the past three election cycles.
The Republican margin here reached seventy-six points in 1920. Between 2020 and 2024 the county moved four points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was twenty-seven points.
A median household income of $77,066, a 82% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 160,865 describe the county. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Crow Wing County and Lake of the Woods County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Stearns County, Minnesota. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/27145/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More sunbelt conservative counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Stearns County, Minnesota vote in 2024?
In 2024, Stearns County, Minnesota voted Republican by 26.7 points (R+27), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 86,631 votes cast, 30,829 went Democratic and 53,932 went Republican.
What is Stearns County, Minnesota's political typology?
Akashic places Stearns County, Minnesota in the "Sunbelt Conservative" typology — Affluent, predominantly white Sunbelt counties — reliably Republican. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 14 times, Republican 19 times, and other 1 times.
When did Stearns County, Minnesota last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Stearns County, Minnesota voted Democratic was 1996.
How many people live in Stearns County, Minnesota?
Stearns County, Minnesota has a population of 160,865 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Stearns County, Minnesota?
Median household income in Stearns County, Minnesota is $77,066 — below the national median of $80,734. The Minnesota state median is $89,062.
What is the political history of Stearns County, Minnesota?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Stearns County, Minnesota from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 14 went Democratic and 19 went Republican. The county's typology — "Sunbelt Conservative" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.