Anoka County ( ) is the fourth-most populous

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 363,887. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and namesake of the county is the city of Anoka, which is derived from the Dakota word , meaning "on (or from) 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 Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

suburb. Anoka County comprises the north portion of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul statistical area, the state's largest

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

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 The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

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 Louis Hennepin, OFM (born Antoine Hennepin; ; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Catholic priest and missionary best known for his activities in North America. A member of the Recollects, a minor branch of the Franciscans, he travel ...

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 Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

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 The National Sports Center (NSC) is a multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota. Its site includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a meeting and convention facility, an eight-sheet ice rink (the Super ...

in Blaine.

History

Anoka County was organized by an act of the

Minnesota Territorial Legislature The Minnesota Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1849 as the legislative branch of the government of the Territory of Minnesota. The upper chamber, the Council, and the lower cham ...

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

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.''Anoka County MN'' Google Maps (accessed March 4, 2019)
/ref> 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 (5.2%) are covered by water.

Lakes

* Baldwin Lake * Bunker Lake * Cedar Lake * Centerville Lake * Coon Lake * Crooked Lake * George Watch Lake * Golden Lake * Ham Lake * Laddie Lake * Lake George * Marshan Lake * McKay Lake * Moore Lake * Peltier Lake * Reshanau Lake * Rice Lake * Round Lake * Sherman Lake * Spring Lake * Smith Lake * Wards Lake

Waterways

* Cedar Creek * Coon Creek * Crooked Brook * Ford Brook * Hardwood Creek * Mahoney Brook *

* Rice Creek * Rum River * Sand Creek * Seelye Brook * Trott Brook * Pheasant creek

Major highways

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

* Interstate 35E * Interstate 35W * Interstate 694 * US Highway 10 * US Highway 169 * Minnesota State Highway 47 *

Minnesota State Highway 65 Minnesota State Highway 65 (MN 65) is a highway in the east–central and northeast parts of the U.S. state of Minnesota, which starts at its split from Interstate 35W (Minnesota), I-35W, skipping past the downtown Minneapolis core, only to resu ...

* Minnesota State Highway 97 * Minnesota State Highway 610 * '' List of county roads''

Adjacent counties

* Isanti County - north * Chisago County - northeast * Washington County - east * Ramsey County - southeast *

Hennepin County Hennepin County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1,281,565, and was estimated to be 1,273,334 in 2024, making it the List of counties in ...

- southwest * Sherburne County - northwest

Protected areas

* Bethel Wildlife Management Area * Boot Lake Scientific and Natural Area * Bunker Hills Regional Park * Carl E Bonnell Wildlife Management Area * Carlos Avery State Wildlife Management Area * Cedar Creek Conservation Area * Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park * East Bethel Booster Park * Gordie Mikkelson Wildlife Management Area * Helen Allison Savanna Scientific and Natural Area * Lake George Regional Park * Martin Island-Linwood Lakes Regional Park * Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (part) * Rice Creek Chain of Lakes Park Preserve * Robert and Marilyn Burman Wildlife Management Area

Climate and weather

Anoka County has a hot-summer

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

zone (''Dfa'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

), typical of southern parts of the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

, 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

2020 census

''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.''

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

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

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, 298,084 people, 106,428 households, and 79,395 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

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 African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 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 Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $23,297. About 2.90% of families and 4.20% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, 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 Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member o ...

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 Christine Elizabeth Smith (née Flint, born March 4, 1958) is an American politician, retired Democratic political consultant, and former businesswoman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United Sta ...

in the concurrent Senate special election in 2018; Smith won the election by over 10 points. Incumbent Democratic-Farmer-Labor Governor

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

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

National elections

Communities

Cities

* Andover * Anoka *

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...