Brainerd, Minnesota

Brainerd population, 2020 to 2024

Brainerd added 25 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +0.2%. In the latest year it moved by -126. Among 155 Minnesota places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 97th; the median place changed by +1.1%. The median place of 5,000+ in Minnesota has 14,258 people, so Brainerd is 1.0 times that size.

Brainerd covers 12.13 square miles of land and 0.69 of water, for 1,187 people per square mile of land. The median Minnesota place of 5,000+ has 1,692, so Brainerd is less dense than the typical town.

What county Brainerd is in

All of Brainerd's residents live in Crow Wing County, which had 68,642 residents in 2024. Brainerd holds 21.0% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Brainerd

1 ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) overlaps Brainerd by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 56401. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Brainerd is

The Census internal point of Brainerd is at 46.355300, -94.198400. Saint Paul, the capital, is 110.3 miles SSE in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Sartell, MN (19,979 people), 51.0 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Minneapolis, MN, 106.1 miles away.

Daylight in Brainerd

At 46.36° N, Brainerd gets about 15 h 48 min of daylight around the June solstice and 8 h 36 min around the December solstice, a swing of 7 h 13 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Brainerd

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in Minnesota, measured between internal points. The closest is Baxter, 3.8 miles away, with 9,186 people.