2020 Census – Olmsted County Population Rose Nearly 13%

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The population of Olmsted County grew by nearly 18,600 people between 2010 and last year.

The first release from the 2020 Census put Olmsted County’s population at just under 162,850. That’s up 12.9 percent from the 2010 Census, which had the county’s population at about 144,250 people. The 2020 numbers indicated Olmsted County now has the 7th largest population among Minnesota’s 87 counties.

The Census data also illustrates the growing diversity of Olmsted County’s population. The updated demographic information shows 76.6 percent of the county’s population is white, which is down more than 13 percentage points from 2010 when the white population accounted for 83.4 percent of the overall population.

Black residents now account for 6.7 percent of the population, compared to 4.7 percent in 2010. The percentage of the population identified as Asian grew from 5.4 to 6.3 percent, while Olmsted County’s Hispanic or Latino population rose from 4.2 to 5.6 percent. The fastest growth rate involved people who listed two or more races on the Census questionnaire. They now account for 4.1 percent of the county’s population, which is more than double the 1.9 percent reported in the 2010 Census.

The new Census report shows Minnesota's population grew from about 5.3 million to more than 5.7 million people over the 10-year time span while the change in racial diversity almost mirrored the changes documented in Olmsted County. The percentage of white Minnesotans dropped from just over 83 percent to 76.3 percent in 2020. The percentage of Black residents rose from 5.1 to 6.9 percent, and the Hispanic or Latino population rose from 4.7 to 6.1 percent. Minnesota’s Asian population rose from 4 to 5.2 percent and the percentage of people who listed two or more races jumped from 1.9 to 4.1 percent.

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