Anoka County, Minnesota

Anoka County is a county in Minnesota, United States, on the northern edge of the
Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, about 20 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis. It
had a population of 363,887 at the 2020 census, an estimated 370,349 by 2024, and covers 423
square miles (1,096 km2) of land, centred near 45°16′N 93°14′W.

Anoka is the county seat; its postal code is 55303. The county holds 20 incorporated cities, one
census-designated place and a handful of historic communities, nearly all of it inside city
limits — only Linwood Township remains unincorporated. It runs on Central Time. Its FIPS
code is 27003.

Towns & Villages in Anoka County

Anoka County has 22 named places on record: 20 incorporated cities, one census-designated place
(Martin Lake) and one unincorporated village (Linwood), both inside Linwood Township — the
only part of the county that was never absorbed into a city. CDP stands for census designated
place; Unincorp. covers a settlement with no formal municipal boundary.

Three cities on this list straddle a county line, and their population figures above are
citywide. Blaine, the largest city, sits mostly in Anoka County but reaches east into Ramsey
County; Saint Francis extends north into Isanti County; Spring Lake Park sits mainly in Anoka
County with a slice in Ramsey County. Hilltop is a half-square-mile enclave completely surrounded
by Columbia Heights. Martin Lake’s ZIP code, 55079, is administered from Stacy in Chisago
County, not from any Anoka County post office — the community has no ZIP of its own.

Several old place names still mark the map without being current communities. Cedar, once an
independent settlement with its own post office and cheese factory, was formally absorbed into
Oak Grove in 1993 and survives as a signed neighborhood. Coopers Corner, the original 1856 townsite
of Bethel, is now a locality inside East Bethel after the rest of the settlement moved to reach a
new rail line in 1898. Constance, a former Great Northern Railway stop, sits abandoned inside
present-day Andover; Itasca, an 1849 trading post that Governor Alexander Ramsey named for Lake
Itasca, is now the site of a Highway 10 rest area in Ramsey. None of the four is a distinct place
today, so none appears in the table above.

Townships

Linwood Township is the only part of Anoka County that has never incorporated as a city. It
covers 35.9 square miles in the county’s northeast corner, bordering Chisago and Isanti
counties, and holds Martin Lake and the small village of Linwood. Every other former township in
the county — Anoka, Blaine, Ham Lake, Oak Grove and the rest — incorporated decades
ago and dissolved as a separate civil division when it did.

ZIP Codes

• 55303 — Anoka (also covers Ramsey)
• 55304 — Andover and Ham Lake
• 55014 — Circle Pines, Lexington and part of Blaine
• 55449 — Blaine (also 55434)
• 55433 — Coon Rapids (also 55448)
• 55432 — Fridley and Spring Lake Park (also 55421)
• 55421 — Columbia Heights and Hilltop
• 55038 — Lino Lakes and Centerville
• 55011 — East Bethel and Oak Grove (also 55005 and 55092)
• 55070 — Saint Francis
• 55330 — Nowthen
• 55025 — Columbus
• 55005 — Bethel and Linwood

Martin Lake has no ZIP of its own; its mail runs through 55079, based across the county line in
Stacy. Anoka County’s exurban cities routinely share a ZIP with a neighbor because the U.S.
Postal Service draws rural carrier routes around post office locations, not municipal boundaries.

Geography

Anoka County lies at the edge of Minnesota’s Anoka Sand Plain, a flat outwash plain left by
glacial meltwater, dotted with lakes, wetlands and the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve near
Bethel. The Mississippi River forms the county’s southwestern boundary, and the Coon Rapids
Dam, built for hydroelectric power in 1913–14 and rebuilt for flood and fish control in the
1990s and 2010s, spans the river between Coon Rapids and Brooklyn Park. The Rum River, 151 miles
long and fed by Mille Lacs Lake, cuts south through the county and joins the Mississippi at Anoka,
the point that gave the county its name — a Dakota word meaning “on both sides,”
describing a village that once stood on both riverbanks.

Isanti County lies to the north, Chisago County to the northeast, Washington County to the east,
Ramsey County to the southeast, Hennepin County to the southwest and Sherburne County to the west.
Isanti County, Chisago County, Washington County, Ramsey County, Hennepin County and Sherburne County all border Anoka
directly.

Demographics

Anoka County had a population of 363,887 at the 2020 census, and the latest Census Bureau
estimate puts the county near 370,349 residents, making it Minnesota’s fourth most populous
county. Blaine and Coon Rapids are the two largest communities, together holding well over a
third of the county’s population. Median household income runs $101,869, well above
Minnesota’s statewide 2023 ACS figure of $85,086. Population density works out to roughly
875 people per square mile of land, among the highest in the state outside Hennepin and Ramsey
counties, reflecting the county’s position inside the Twin Cities’ northern suburbs.

Economy & Local Life

Manufacturing employs the most workers in the county, about 31,154 people, followed by health
care and social assistance at 28,962 and retail trade at 22,118. Medtronic’s operational
headquarters sits on a Fridley campus with about 3,366 employees, the city’s largest
employer; Fridley also hosts a Target distribution center, Unity Hospital (part of the Allina
Health system), Cummins Power/Onan’s generator plant and BAE Systems’ former United
Defense works. The Anoka-Hennepin School District, based in Coon Rapids and Anoka, is
Minnesota’s largest school district, with an enrollment of 36,430. Blaine’s National
Sports Center, a 600-acre complex with more than 50 soccer fields and an eight-sheet ice arena,
draws over 3.8 million visitors a year, making it the most-visited sports facility in the state.
Anoka calls itself the Halloween Capital of the World, tracing the claim to one of the country’s
first municipal Halloween parades in 1920, and still runs multiple parades and events every
October.

History

Minnesota’s territorial legislature organized Anoka County on 23 May 1857, the year before
statehood. Franciscan friar Louis Hennepin and his party were the first European explorers to
travel the Rum River, which runs through the county. The city of Anoka, platted from an 1844
settlement at the river confluence and incorporated in 1878, took the county name from the Dakota
word for “on both sides,” describing its position along both banks of the Rum River.
Logging and milling along the Rum and Mississippi drove the county’s early economy, and
several of today’s cities — Anoka, Coon Rapids, Fridley — grew from 19th-century
mill and river-landing settlements before suburban growth reshaped the county after Interstate 35W
opened.

Getting There

Interstate 35W and Interstate 35E cross the county, along with Interstate 694, US Highway 10, US
Highway 169 and Minnesota Highways 47, 65, 97 and 610.

• Minneapolis — about 20 miles southwest
• Saint Paul — about 25 miles south-southeast
• Elk River — about 15 miles northwest
• Forest Lake — about 15 miles east

Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, roughly 25 miles south of Anoka, is the
region’s major commercial airport. The county’s Northstar Line commuter rail, with
stations at Fridley, Coon Rapids–Riverdale, Anoka and Ramsey, ran to downtown Minneapolis
until service ended on 4 January 2026 and was replaced by bus routes on the same corridor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Anoka County located?
It sits on the northern edge of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, about 20 miles
northwest of Minneapolis, bordered by Isanti, Chisago, Washington, Ramsey, Hennepin and Sherburne
counties.

What is the population of Anoka County?
363,887 at the 2020 census, with a Census Bureau estimate near 370,349, Minnesota’s fourth
most populous county.

How big is Anoka County?
423 square miles (1,096 km2) of land plus 23 square miles of water, 446 square miles total.

What is the county seat of Anoka County?
Anoka, incorporated in 1878 at the confluence of the Rum and Mississippi rivers, is the county
seat.

How many towns and cities are in Anoka County?
Twenty incorporated cities — led by Blaine, Coon Rapids and Andover — plus the Martin
Lake census-designated place and the unincorporated village of Linwood, both in Linwood Township.

What ZIP codes does Anoka County use?
55303 for Anoka and Ramsey, 55304 for Andover and Ham Lake, 55449 and 55433 for Blaine and Coon
Rapids, plus separate codes for each of the smaller cities listed above.

What is Anoka County known for?
The city of Anoka’s claim as the Halloween Capital of the World, Medtronic’s Fridley
operational headquarters, and Blaine’s National Sports Center, the state’s
most-visited sports facility.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Minnesota.