Prior Lake, Minnesota

Scott County

27-52594

Prior Lake is a city and a suburb about 30 km southwest of the center of Minneapolis in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city is located in Scott County, and in 2000 15.917 inhabitants were counted. The place is on the growth, and the official estimate for 2006 amounted to 21,542 inhabitants. The growth is attributed to the completion of the expansion of the Minnesota State Route 13 and the attractiveness of the two lying in the urban area lakes. The city was founded in 1851 and is one of the oldest settlements in the metropolitan area today for Minneapolis -St. Paul area belonging.

The largest part of the urban area was sold by the Mdewakanton Dakota, but parts of Prior Lake remained tribal area and are part of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Indian Reservation -. Two casinos, Mystic Lake Casino and Little Six Casino are in this zone.

Geography

The city is located south of the Minnesota River in an area that is accordingly called South of the River. It surrounds the upper and lower Prior Lakeand and forms the south- south-western outskirts of the metropolitan Minneapolis -St. Paul, who is from the population in the United States ranked 16th.

The two lakes are located in a number of south-west to, but not to the urban area belonging Spring Lake. Along Lower and Upper Prior Lake constitute the largest area of ​​the lake in the south of the metropolitan area.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.5 km ², of which 34.9 km ² of land and 6.6 km ² omitted ( = 15.77 %) to water.

Prior Lakes geographical coordinates are 44 ° 43 ' N, 93 ° 25' W44.713333333333 - 93.422777777778.

Demography

At the time of the census of 2000, there were 15,917 persons Prior Lake. The population density was 454.9 people per km ². There were 5791 housing units at an average 165.5 per km ². The population of Prior Lake consisted of 94.53 % White, 0.77 % African American, 2.08 % Native American, 0.94% Asian, 0.04 % Pacific Islander, 0.33 % reported other races, and 1.31 % from two or more races. 1.11 % of the population to be Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Residents Prior Lakes distributed to 5645 households out of which 44.2 % were living in children under 18 years. 66.3 % married couples living together, 7.6 % had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 15.6% of households were made ​​up of individuals and someone lived in 3.5 % of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size is 3.17 people.

The city population was spread out with 30.3 % under the, 6.4 % 18 -24- year-old, 37.7 % 25 -44- year-old, 20.7% 45-64 year olds and 4.9 % under the age of 65 years or more. The average age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 102.1 males. In the over -18s accounted for 100 women 102.1 males.

The median household income in Prior Lake was 75 363 U.S. dollars, and the median family income reached the level of 81 011 U.S. dollars. The average income of men was 52.061 U.S. dollars, compared to 34 837 U.S. dollars for women. The per capita income in Prior Lake was 32 ​​089 U.S. dollars. 3.6 % of the population and 1.7 % of families had affected an income below the poverty line, including 3.4 % of minors and 7.1 % of those age 65 or over.

Administration and policy

Prior Lake is administered by a mayor and four elected council members. The city is governed by a City Manager.

Prior Lake is located in the Minnesota Legislative District 35A and is represented in the Senate of Minnesota by Claire Robling and and House of Representatives of Minnesota by Michael Beard; both belong to the Republican Party.

At the federal level, Prior Lake is located in the second congressional district of Minnesota and is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by Republican John Kline.

Culture and media

In Prior Lake, there are two weekly newspapers, Prior Lake Prior Lake American and ThisWeek.

Following the Columbine High School massacre, journalist Elinor Burkett followed a year pupils and teachers at the Prior Lake High School. You choose this school because of the Prior Lake City to Columbine, Colorado is very similar demographically. Their experiences while they documented in the book Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School ( ISBN 0-06-050585-0 ).

Sons and daughters of the town

• John Robert Roach ( born 1921 ), Archbishop of St. Paul