Wright County Stays Fastest-Growing in MN

UNDATED (WJON News) - According to numbers released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Wright County is the fastest-growing county in Minnesota.

Officials say the county has grown by 6.5 percent over the last three years, which is the largest percentage gain in the state. Wright County (+9,267) came in second behind Washington County (+11,379) for the largest total number of people gained.

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Wright County Administrator Lee Kelly says it’s been exciting to watch the growth.

It's been exciting that we continue to grow and it comes with its challenges. The exciting part is certainly the opportunity. I think we've done a lot of work to try and position ourselves for the future both in terms of infrastructure, facilities, staffing, and arrangement of the organization to try and be ahead of that as best we can knowing that it's going to continue to grow.

Wright County’s growth represents almost 30 percent of Minnesota’s total growth of more than 31,100 people.

Kelly believes the COVID pandemic changed the way people work, and what type of lifestyle they want to enjoy.

You're seeing reductions in the core of the Twin Cities metro area, you're seeing Hennepin decrease, you're seeing Ramsey decrease in residence, but you're seeing the outer ring counties, certainly us, Anoka, Washington was also very quickly growing.

So I think with the effects of COVID and other things people have thought about where they want to live. The ability to work remotely has also helped us to allow people who may have always wanted a little more land than living in the city the opportunity to be a little more rural, we're able to provide that for them.

Minnesota Counties Growing:

Wright County is the only county in Minnesota that has grown by more than 5 percent in the last three years and one of only five counties that have grown by more than 4 percent:

Wright County: 6.5 percent (a 9,267 increase in population),
Sherburne County: 4.9 percent (5,017),
Isanti County 4.7 percent (2,047),
Pine County 4.3 percent (1,308),
Washington County 4.1 percent (11,379).

In Minnesota, the two largest counties – Hennepin and Ramsey – have experienced a combined population decrease of more than 39,000.
Since the 2020 census, these are the changes that have taken place in each county: