Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Sauk Centre grades B− overall, ranked 221st of 271 in Minnesota, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 87% of U.S. towns. On the other side, the median household income is $63K, and 20% of residents live below the poverty line. 34% of working residents work locally in Sauk Centre, above both Minnesota’s towns (9.7%) and U.S. towns (8%). Only 50 of Minnesota’s 574 towns score higher on history.
Where Sauk Centre beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Sauk Centre is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Sinclair Lewis Boyhood Home is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,201 in 1880, 4,555 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1901 and 3 maps from 1965 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sauk Centre, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Sauk Centre.
Sauk Centre is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has colder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has poverty well above the Minnesota rate.
Its public schools are run by the Sauk Centre Public School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Sauk Centre Secondary, with 597 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sauk Centre ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 368 | C+ |
| Sauk Centre SecondaryLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 597 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MN on state tests and graduation
1.4 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sinclair Lewis Park | 0.5 mi | 5 |
| 2. Skate Park | 0.4 mi | 5 |
| 3. Stearns County Fairgrounds | 0.1 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
January nights average 1.4°, colder than in 95% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 80.6°.
Sauk Centre has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Sauk Centre’s January low is 1°F. About 39 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 1°F | 6°F | 22°F |
| July high | 81°F | 82°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 72 to 30 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
The violent crime rate in Sauk Centre is 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 5.9 per 1,000 residents | 8.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
About one in 3 of Sauk Centre’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Sauk Centre fell to 2,424 in 2023, 346 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Melrose (6%), St.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $91,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Sauk Centre home is worth about $312,000, up 3.1% in a year, 11% below the Minnesota typical home. 56% of Sauk Centre households own their home.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 56% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $843 a month | $1,199 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 56% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 9,533 U.S. towns with household incomes like Sauk Centre’s, it is healthier than 78%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income. Within Minnesota it is less healthy than 78% of the 271 graded towns: Minnesota sets a high bar.
Sauk Centre beats the Minnesota average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 29% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Sauk Centre.
| Sauk Centre | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 30% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 23% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 75% | 79% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 30% | 33% |
| What stands out | Sauk Centre | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 79.7% | 76.1% |
| More adults with heart disease | 8.2% | 5.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
None within 15 miles of Sauk Centre; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Sauk Centre residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
4 places in Sauk Centre on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Sauk Centre.
City in Minnesota, United States
Sauk Centre ( SAWK) is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,555 at the 2020 census. Sauk Centre is part of the St. Cloud metropolitan area. Sauk Centre is the birthplace of Sinclair Lewis, a novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. It inspired his fictional Gopher Prairie, the setting of Lewis's 1920 novel Main Street. There are two sculptures of Lewis in Sauk Centre, one life size sculpture just outside the public library named after him, and a bust, sculpted by Joseph Kiselewski, inside the library.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Sauk Centre grades B− overall, better than 49% of U.S. towns and #221 of 271 in Minnesota. It grades B− for health, B+ for safety and B− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 4.1 years of the area's median household income ($76,497 across the St. Cloud, MN metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
5 notable people were born here, including Sinclair Lewis and Rachel Evers.
