St. Cloud, Minnesota

St. Cloud is a college town in located along the Mississippi River in Stearns County in central Minnesota, 66 miles (106 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.

Learn about your new community by exploring Stearnes History Museum, with two floors of exhibits and a children's gallery for the younger set. Another good way to get to know your community is to head downtown to check out the cafés, shops, and nightlife, or to attend community events, like summer farmers' markets. You can also explore some area outdoors at the 14-acre (six-hectare) Munsinger and Clemens Gardens.

Music lovers will enjoy performances of the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, while shoppers will be busy at area outlet malls and shopping centers. Got kids? No worries. Those with kids (and those who are young at heart) can head out to the Stearnes County Fair held in July, or to the Summerland Family Fun Park which includes a water park, bumper cars, go-karts, mini golf, and more.

Speaking of outdoor fun, St. Cloud is a four season community, with January highs averaging 19F (-7C) and July highs averaging 82F (28C), and you'll find plenty to do outside. St. Cloud itself has 93 parks, and Stearns County is home to 294 lakes and 189 rivers and streams, including the Chain of Lakes. Not far from St. Cloud you can hop on the Lake Wobegon Trail, a 46-mile-long (74-kilometer-long) hike-and-bike pathway running along a former rail corridor, which runs from St. Joseph (a few miles west of St. Cloud) to Sauk Centre. Lake Maria State Park, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of town, is home to one of the few remaining stands of the "Big Woods," which are the maple, oak, and basswood forests that once covered part of southern Minnesota. And at Sibley State Park, about 47 miles (76 kilometers) southwest, you can head up to Mount Tom, which offers a vista of forest, farmland, prairie knolls, and lakes. And 33 miles (53 kilometers) north along the Mississippi you'll find Charles A. Lindbergh State Park. St. Cloud residents are also never far from winter opportunities to enjoy a day on the powder, whether on skis, a snowboard, or an inner tube!

Perhaps most interesting is Quarry Park and Nature Preserve – though a quarry may be no surprise for an area known as Granite Country! The park encompasses 643 acres (260 hectares). The park is described as the most unique county park in the United States, and features granite reflecting pools, a 116-foot-deep (35-meter-deep) swimming hole, mountain bike paths over billion-year-old bedrock, and more!

And if all this variety isn't enough, the central lakes area of Minnesota has more than a dozen golf courses to try out.

Plenty of things to do inside and out, and easy access to the Twin Cities – make your move to St. Cloud!

See our 8 Jobs in St. Cloud, Minnesota