Gaylord boxes in Carver County

Carver County is the metro's edge, where farm country starts. Chaska and Chanhassen carry electronics, printing, instruments and food.

Carver is a small county with a distinctive mix: instruments, printing and electronics next to food. Printed stock sits long, so time under load is the question; instruments and electronics sit in heated rooms, so cleanliness is. Say which you are, and put the real ZIP on the request.

Carver County at a glance

Carver County's page gives 106,922 people at the 2020 census and 114,379 at the 2025 estimate, over 376 square miles. The Minnesota River is the southern border and Lake Waconia, at 2,996 acres, is the largest lake. The page calls the area devoted to agriculture.

Its 2022 employer list reads Independent School District 112 at 2,056, Ridgeview Medical Center at 1,500, Emerson Process Management at 1,201, Strom Aviation at 1,001, IWCO Direct at 1,000, Beckman Coulter at 780, The Bernard Group at 600 and General Mills at 600. Named roads are U.S. 212 and Minnesota 5, 7, 25, 41 and 284.

Getting around Carver

US 212 and MN 5 are the main east-west routes, with MN 41 running north and south through Chanhassen and Chaska.

Where Carver people live and work

Most listed in Carver: food and ingredients (2), electronics and instruments (1), medical devices (1) and printing and packaging (1). The largest towns are Chaska and Chanhassen.

Chaska

Population 30,167 (Census estimate, July 2024). Eastern Carver County Schools (1,346) and Entegris (925) lead the city's employers.

Chaska's major employers in the city's 2020 financial report: Eastern Carver County Schools at 1,346, Entegris at 925, Beckman Coulter at 850, TEL-FSI at 850, Carver County at 700, The Bernard Group at 646 and Lake Region Manufacturing at 600. Industrial concerns include TPI Specialties, Update Ltd and Wigen Water Technologies.

Chanhassen

Life Time Fitness (1,171) heads the city's employers, with printing and instrument makers among the next largest.

Chanhassen's top employers in the city's 2022 report: Life Time Fitness at 1,171, Instant Web Companies at 718, The Bernard Group at 686, Rosemount Inc. at 550, Eastern Carver County Schools at 464, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres at 350, General Mills at 344, RR Donnelley at 275, Target at 225 and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum at 192. Bongards Creameries is listed among companies headquartered in the city.

Reading Carver's record

Carver has the shortest ledger of the metro counties on this desk, which makes each entry count for more. Its printers want boxes that survive weeks on a floor; its instrument and electronics makers want boxes that arrive clean; its food plants want them dry. A request that says which of the three it is saves a round of questions.

Questions, answered