Past

When an early French explorer discovered an island where the Crow Wing River joins the Mississippi River that was shaped like the wing of a crow, the river and county names were the result. Crow Wing County was established in 1857 with Brainerd as the county seat. Often referred to as “cabin country”, Crow Wing County has over 400 lakes and 75 rivers with over 2,000 miles of shoreline, more than the driving distance between Minneapolis and Los Angeles, CA.

 

Future

Since 2000 the population of Crow Wing County has grown 31 percent faster than Minnesota overall, although due to an older age profile, the labor force growth during the similar period was roughly the same as the state’s. Projected labor force continues a much slower increase. 2020-2030 is projected to be just 0.8% of available workers compared to population growth during the same period, projected to be 3.2 percent.

 

Trends

2,044 business establishments provide Crow Wing County with over 29,000 jobs across a wide range of industries, with employment heavily concentrated in Health Care and Social Assistance, amounting to one in five jobs. Retailers in Crow Wing County cover 16% of all jobs. In the last year (2015-2016) employment growth was positive in all but seven of the 18 industry subsectors.