Base ball at Sauk Centre, Minn., July Fourth, 1908
Sauk Centre Township’s story
Sauk Centre Township in pictures
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1901.
Explore the history →
Sauk Centre TownshipMN
A town of 1,234.
5 bordering townsMap →
Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0
Population
1,234
2025 Census estimate · +4.7% since 2020
Median home value
$315K
Census ACS
Household income
$99K
median
Median age
40.2
years
Jobs based here
316
A commuter town
Is Sauk Centre Township a good place to live?
The best of Sauk Centre Township’s subject grades is a B for walkability. Sauk Centre Township’s January low is 2°F, against 6°F in Minnesota’s towns and 22°F across U.S. towns. On civic life, just 2 of Minnesota’s 572 towns do worse. The biggest place to walk is Sauk River Wildlife Management Area, 849 acres with 1.2 miles of trail. Sauk Centre Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Small town
1,234 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Nearby towns
Melrose TownshipKandota TownshipAshley TownshipGetty TownshipBirchdale TownshipSauk Centre Township
How Sauk Centre Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Minnesota), ordered by how far Sauk Centre Township is from typical.
Hazard riskinland flooding tops the listC+Open →WalkabilityEPA walkability 5.5 of 20; 1.6% of households have no car; 7.1% of workers walk, bike or ride transitBOpen →Jobs & incomeBOpen →HealthCentracare Health System - Sauk Centre 3.2 miles awayB−Open →Cost of livingTypical home $315K, 4.1 years of the St. Cloud metro’s $76K median household incomeB−Open →SchoolsBeat 51% of Minnesota districts on tests and graduationB−Open →
Character Graded, but not part of the overall grade.
Outdoors3 miles of trails; 7% conserved landCOpen →HistoryC−Open →Civic life0 community nonprofits per 1,000 residentsD−Open →
Described, not graded Taste, not quality: snow or an older crowd is neither good nor bad.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Getting set up
The full setup list →Moving to Sauk Centre Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Sauk Centre Township, and how to reach them.
PowerStearns Cooperative Elec Assn14.1¢/kWh · EIA 2025HIFLD · EIA
WaterBig Sauk Lake Mobile Home ParkNo health-based violations in 5 years · EPAEPA
Internet8 providers100% of addresses get 100/20 MbpsFCC
Trash & dumpNot on file yetWe don’t have Sauk Centre Township’s trash rules yet
Register to voteOnlineIn Minnesota you can register online until 21 days before Election Day, in person up to and including Election Day, or by mail (received 21 days before).vote.govWho runs elections hereStearns County Service CenterStearns County; contacts on the Handbook page.FVAP, Jun 2025
ZIP code5637856378 100%Census 2020
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Sauk Centre Township.
Work & commuteJobs & income grade B
About one in three of Sauk Centre Township’s working residents commute to Sauk Centre
Most working residents leave Sauk Centre Township for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in Sauk Centre Township fell to 316 in 2023, 205 fewer than in 2013. Sauk Centre Township’s median household income is $99,000, where Minnesota’s towns sit at $90,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000.
4%work in town
| Sauk Centre Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 3.7% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $99,000 | $90,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.3% | 7% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
In Sauk Centre Township4%
Sauk Centre37%
Melrose7%
St. Cloud7%
Long Prairie4%
10 mi
median commute distance
316
jobs based in Sauk Centre Township
A commuter town
jobs vs. working residents
B
Walkability grade: more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Climate
Sauk Centre Township has four seasons and pleasant summers
Sauk Centre Township has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Sauk Centre Township’s July high is 81°F.
39″snow a winter
Typical low → high °F
Winter5–23°
Spring32–53°
Summer57–79°
Fall36–55°
Oct 1
typical first frost
May 4
typical last frost
+1.8°
vs. the 20th-century average
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
OutdoorsC
Sauk Centre Township has set aside 6.8% of its land for conservation
2.9 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in Sauk Centre Township is 0.1 miles per square mile.
6.8%conserved
| Sauk Centre Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.8% | 4.7% | 4.3% |
6.8%
conserved · 1,652 of 24,124 acres
2.9 mi
of trails · 0.1 per sq mi
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sauk River Wildlife Management Area | 1.2 mi | 849 |
| 2. Sauk Lake Wayside Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Natural hazardsHazard risk grade C+
Moderate risk in Sauk Centre Township, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 56% of U.S. communities.
56risk score of 100
FEMA risk score
Inland floodingTornadoesCold waves
1
federal disasters paid out here
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
HealthB−
Residents of Sauk Centre Township are healthier than 52% of U.S. towns
Sauk Centre Township beats the Minnesota average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 30% of Sauk Centre Township adults sleep under 7 hours.
52%healthier than U.S. townsB−Health Grade
| Sauk Centre Township | Minnesota towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 30% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 75% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 23% | 25% |
32 measures vs. Minnesota
1 better20 too close to call11 worse
| What stands out | Sauk Centre Township | MN |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 78.9% | 76.1% |
| More adults with COPD | 7.4% | 5.4% |
Centracare Health System - Sauk Centre
3.2 mi away · emergency room
2 of 3
care shortages: primary care, mental health
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Keep exploring
Everything we know about Sauk Centre Township
18pages on Sauk Centre Township
The big questions
Out and about
After high school
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Sauk Centre Township; the nearest are
Alexandria Technical & Community CollegeCommunity college · Public · Alexandria22.3 mi$6,236 in-state tuitionSaint Cloud State UniversityUniversity or college · Public · Saint Cloud41.2 mi$10,245 in-state tuition
About 3 of every 100 Sauk Centre Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Minnesota.
A commuter town
96% of working residents leave Sauk Centre Township for work
Where Sauk Centre Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
316jobs based in Sauk Centre Township
4%of working residents work in town
10 mimedian commute distance
Census LEHD 2023
About Sauk Centre Township
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)
- Area
- 4.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,250 ft
- ZIP code
- 56378
- Area code
- 320
Questions about Sauk Centre Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Sauk Centre Township, MN expensive?
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−.