Duluth, Rochester, and Saint Cloud are all growing communities.

Which do you think will hit 100,000 residents first? Soon, Saint Cloud will be linked to the Twin Cities via commuter rail, and Rochester's medical draw continues to fuel expansion. Will Duluth continue its plateau in population, grow, or decline?

What do you thinK?

Inevitably, it will be Rochester at around 2010-11. Its growing at about a rate 1,500 per year according to the last decades census trends. Rochester's downtown is amazing and it was voted the healthiest city in America by some article i found online (i can't remember which). It just needs a 4 year university.

St. Cloud is experiencing similar growth as Rochester but theres only around 60-65k people there right now. It will hit that mark, but not for about 15 years or so. It has as many businesses as some cities over 100k (huge mall, two Targets etc...) and an actual CBD. The NW corridor rail will be bigger for St. Cloud's metro growth and not as much the city growth.

Duluth will probably grow because recently there has been a trend of rural residents wanting to move to larger cities especially in Northern MN. IMO, Duluth is probably the most beautiful city in MN and shouldn't have too much of a problem selling itself to college grads and young families.

I have no idea how to answer the question, but I will say that Duluth looks GORGEOUS. I was just looking at pics of it the other day and I was SHOCKED and very pleasantly so.

By the time I am 25-30 mark the pop of duluth 1 higher.
Duluth is the most awesome city in the world!!!!

Here's the latest estimates for a few MN cities.

Rochester 93,037
Duluth 86,082
Bloomington 85,301
Plymouth 70,238
St. Cloud 62,850

I thought Duluth was bigger than that.

I really haven't a clue which city will grow fastest, but I'd really like to see Duluth prosper, after a decade or so of rejuvenation. Duluth used to be a bleak, grungy-ass city. It's really taken a 180 degree turn.

Downtown/Superior Street really looks great, considering it's only a city of 86,000. With it's location on Lake Superior and hilly topography, Duluth has the potential to be an amazing city. Still looks pretty bad in West Duluth next to the harbor, though.

I thought Duluth was bigger than that.

It has been. It's populaton once exceeded 115,000.

If Rochester doesn't do it, my bet would probably be on Bloomington, just because Twin Cities suburbs in general are booming.

Bloomington lost pop in the last census. It would take an extreme turnaround for it to surpass 100K

Rochester is growing like weed. It's hands down the choice here. Consider:

Rochester has nearly doubled in size since 1980.
Bloomington is in a lull.
Duluth is losing population yearly.
St. Cloud has a looong way to go to catch Rochester.

This really isn't even a question of who will reach 100K first.

Rochester gets my vote. Duluth isnt growing very fast at all. There just isnt much of an economy there, its very weak. I love Duluth, my favorite city in all of Minnesota but it may have to wait a very long time to get to 100k. Bloomington is similar in that I doubt it will make 100k, but it has a better economy, but it is already built up and has no room to expand as it is surrounded by other cites. St Cloud will get there someday but it will take a while. So Rochester will most likely be first.

I thought Duluth was bigger than that.


The metro is 225K, which was actually larger than I'd thought.

Rochester easily. I have a friend that lives about 25 miles north of Rochester. When she moved there 5 years ago she was 30 miles from any significant developmernt in Rochester. Now the development reaches almost to the northern limit of the city. Rochester has grown faster to the south than the north, but is starting to gain momentum to the north part of the city.
Duluth is doubtful to ever reach 100,000 again IMO.
Bloomington is shrinking but still could gain population. It is starting to get into the condo game. That will help add density in areas that have not been developed yet.
Saint Cloud possibly in 20 years. But to do so Saint Cloud will need to annex more land, like Rochester has been doing.

The metro is 225K, which was actually larger than I'd thought.

The metro covers more land than the entire state of New Jersey...

Marathon are you thinking 225 kilometers? The k stands for thousands of people. Unless I'm totallly confused about what your statement means.

Marathon are you thinking 225 kilometers? The k stands for thousands of people. Unless I'm totallly confused about what your statement means.

No, I'm just making a comment about how spread out those 225K people are. The metro is actually overwhelmingly rural in nature...

On any level, do some people in the Twin Cities area change their paradigm from two to three and look at Tri-Cities, with Mpls and StP joined by Bloomington?

No. Bloomington has no downtown.

Sometimes the metro is named "Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington", because, having the Mall of America, Bloomington qualifies as a commerce center within the metro.

Duluth is going through a similar thing as Thunder Bay, economically.The only exception is it has more attractions, and a more varied economy. All of the cities around Lake Superior have been slumping economically, but there is a slight comeback. Give it about 10 years, and annex Hermantown or Procter, and it could surpass Thunder Bay in population, which is currently at 110,000.

Duluth is very rural, and according to some things I've seen, they count ALL of St. Louis county as metro, but it stretches up to the border (it's the lagest county on that side of the Mississippi) so the number is a little misleading. I'd say it's more around 200,000 or so. Duluth/Superior combined have just over 115,000 I think, and including the other communities around them in a 10mi radius, you could probably get up to 200,000. It's not impossible.

I'd say Rochester will reach 100,00 first. I was actually surprised when I found out how few people lived there, you'd never know looking at the skyline. Duluth would have to be second.

And I have to agree, it is the most beautiful city I've ever seen. My number one choice if I ever move state-side.

if i may chime in, even though i've never been to minnesota, i think rochester will be the first of those. if i'm correct, the mayo clinic is located in rochester. as our country becomes more and more of a serviced based economy (as opposed to an industrial based economy), services like healthcare, banking, etc will become more important, and more jobs will be created and needed to be filled. i get the impression that rochester is the most service-based of the three cities, and so as service-based industries grow, service-based cities will grow.

Sometimes the metro is named "Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington", because, having the Mall of America, Bloomington qualifies as a commerce center within the metro.
some people may call it that but the MSA is called "Minneapolis--St. Paul, MN--WI" in the official census and I can assure you that nobody calls the area the "tri-cities"... As far as the mall is concerned, it may be big for a mall but when compared to the downtowns it's hardly significant economically, it's much more important as a tourist draw than anything else.

if i'm correct, the mayo clinic is located in rochester.

You are correct, sir. :okay:

Rochester.

Rochester will reach 100,000 first but i hope duluth will get back to over 100,000 people because i would like to live in a city that has huge beaches like lake supirior

Rochester is growing fast thanks to the mayo clinic.
I say it will be like duluth in a few years and duluth will not get much biger.

Like Duluth how? It's already bigger by about 10,000 people.

Rochester might be first, but I want Duluth to be first.

Rochester might be first, but I want Duluth to be first.

I do too, Duluth is sweet:

http://img277.imageshack.us/img277/461/duluth1vx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

^^^ Right on :)

i agree duluth is the best city in america

How about Moorehead?! :eek2:

Rochester might be first, but I want Duluth to be first.
Ditto.
Like Duluth how? It's already bigger by about 10,000 people.
OK you got a point there.

i agree duluth is the best city in america
I agree more.