Anoka County, Minnesota


Anoka County is the fourth-most populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, its population was 363,887. The county seat and namesake of the county is the city of Anoka, which is derived from the Dakota word anoka, meaning "on both sides", referring to its location on both banks of the Rum River. The county's largest city is Blaine, the tenth-largest city in Minnesota and sixth-largest Twin Cities suburb.
Anoka County comprises the north portion of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul statistical area, the state's largest metropolitan area and the 16th-largest in the United States, with about 3.64 million residents.
The county is bordered by the counties of Isanti on the north, Chisago and Washington on the east, Hennepin and Ramsey on the south, Sherburne on the west, and the Mississippi River on the southwest. The Rum River cuts through the county and was the site of many early European settlements. It was a common route to the Mille Lacs Lake, the spiritual homeland of the Ojibwe people. Father Louis Hennepin traveled the river in his first exploration of the region. The area became a center of fur trade and logging as French and French Canadian communities grew in Anoka and Centerville. Organized in 1857, the county's southern border eventually met Minneapolis and has become a predominantly suburban area since Interstate 35W was built. The county is home to destinations such as the Heights Theater in Columbia Heights and Northtown Mall and the National Sports Center in Blaine.

History

Anoka County was organized by an act of the Minnesota Territorial Legislature on May 23, 1857, the year before Minnesota's admission to the Union. It was formed from parts of Ramsey County and Benton County; the Rum River previously formed the line between the two counties. The boundaries were mainly the same as they are now, except for a small part of the southeastern tip along the Mississippi River and at the south, formerly known as Manomin County. It was a small portion that connected to Ramsey and occupied one-third of the congressional township. It was attached to Anoka County by constitutional amendment on November 2, 1869, and became known as Fridley in 1879.
The first European descendants to explore what is now Anoka County were Franciscan friar Louis Hennepin and his party. Fur traders soon began to settle the area that is now Ramsey County. They settled on the Rum River and more people were attracted to the area now called Anoka.

Geography

The Mississippi River flows southeasterly along the county's southwestern boundary. The Rum River flows southerly through the western part of the county, discharging into the Mississippi at the county's southwestern boundary. The terrain consists of low, rolling, wooded hills. The terrain slopes to the south and east; its highest point is a small hillock east of the county's northwest corner, at ASL. Otherwise the terrain's highest point is along the western part of the north boundary line, at ASL. The county has an area of, of which are covered by water.

Lakes

Anoka County has a hot-summer humid continental climate zone, typical of southern parts of the Upper Midwest, and is situated in USDA plant hardiness zone 4b. As is typical in a continental climate, the difference between average temperatures in the coldest winter month and the warmest summer month is great:. In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Anoka have ranged from in January to in July. A record low of was recorded in January 2019 and a record high of in July 1988. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in July.

Demographics

Racial and ethnic composition

''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.''

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 363,887. The median age was 38.6 years. 24.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 14.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 98.1 males age 18 and over.
The racial makeup of the county was 77.0% White, 7.9% Black or African American, 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.3% Asian, <0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.6% from some other race, and 6.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 5.4% of the population.
84.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 15.9% lived in rural areas.
There were 133,879 households in the county, of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 54.2% were married-couple households, 16.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 22.1% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 138,017 housing units, of which 3.0% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 79.4% were owner-occupied and 20.6% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.7% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.4%.

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, 330,844 people were in the county.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, 298,084 people, 106,428 households, and 79,395 families resided in the county. The population density was. The 108,091 housing units had an average density of.
At the time of the 2000 Census, the racial makeup of the county was 93.64% White, 1.60% African American, 0.70% Native American, 1.69% Asian, 0.67% from other races, and 1.71 percent from two or more races; 1.66% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. The 2000 Census found 30.2% were of German, 14.3% Norwegian, 9.0% Swedish, 7.3% Irish, and 5.9% Polish ancestry.
Of the 106,428 households, 39.9% had children under 18 living with them, 60.7% were married couples living together, 9.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were not families. About 19.3% were made up of individuals, and 5.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.77, and the average family size was 3.19.
The county's age distribution was 28.9% under 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 7.1% who were 65 or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.10 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 99.30 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $57,754, and for a family was $64,261. Males had a median income of $41,527 versus $30,534 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,297. About 2.90% of families and 4.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.90% of those under age 18 and 4.50% of those age 65 or over.

Government and politics

Anoka County was once one of the most Democratic suburban counties in any metropolitan area nationwide and is one of the few to have trended Republican in the 21st century. On a national level, Anoka County has voted for the Republican presidential nominee since 2000, though with the margins remaining within 3% outside of 2004, 2016, and 2024. Incumbent Democratic-Farmer-Labor Senator Amy Klobuchar defeated Jim Newberger by over 20,000 votes there in the 2018 midterms; Klobuchar also won the county in 2006, 2012, and 2024. Republican nominee Karin Housley narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Tina Smith in the concurrent Senate special election in 2018; Smith won the election by over 10 points. Incumbent Democratic-Farmer-Labor Governor Tim Walz also won Anoka County in his 2018 gubernatorial bid by fewer than 300 votes, but the county flipped to Republican in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

County commissioners

As of April 2023:
  • District 1 - Matt Look
  • District 2 - Julie Braastad
  • District 3 - Jeff Reinert
  • District 4 - Scott Schulte
  • District 5 - Mike Gamache
  • District 6 - Julie Jeppson
  • District 7 - Mandy Meisner