Minneapolis

Minneapolis is a big city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It is the most populous city in the state, with 429,954 people living there as of the 2020 census. The city is located near the eastern border of Minnesota and sits on both sides of the Upper Mississippi River. It is part of an area known as the Twin Cities together with Saint Paul, the state capital, and the whole metropolitan area has about 3.69 million residents.

Minneapolis has many lakes, wetlands, creeks, and waterfalls, which is why it is called the "City of Lakes". The city has a public park system connected by the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway. The area was originally home to the Dakota people, and European settlers later arrived near Fort Snelling and Saint Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi River. Because of its location and natural resources, Minneapolis grew to become an important center for industry, especially for lumber and flour milling in the past.

Today, Minneapolis is known for its arts institutions like the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Guthrie Theater. The city has four professional sports teams and is home to the University of Minnesota’s main campus. It also has important companies such as General Mills, the Pillsbury brand, Target Corporation, and Thermo King. Public transportation is provided by Metro Transit, and the area’s main airport is nearby.

History

Main article: History of Minneapolis

Dakota homeland

Further information: Dakota people, Ojibwe, Bdóte, and Dakota War of 1862

Two Indigenous nations lived in the area now called Minneapolis. Since 1000 AD, they were the Dakota, and after the 1700s, the Ojibwe, also known as Chippewa, members of the Anishinaabe nations. The Dakota have stories about how they began, with one saying they came from Bdóte, where the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers meet. In 1680, a cleric named Louis Hennepin, likely the first European to see the waterfall the Dakota call Owámniyomni, named it the Falls of St. Anthony of Padua.

Over sixty years, the US took all Dakota land and forced them to leave. Zebulon Pike made the 1805 Treaty of St. Peter with the Dakota, buying land for a military fort and trading post. In 1819, the US Army built Fort Snelling. Under pressure, the Dakota gave up more land, but they refused to sign treaties until paid for past ones. In 1862, because food supplies were late, some Dakota people declared war. After six weeks of fighting, many Dakota were forced to leave Minnesota.

While this happened, Franklin Steele claimed land on one side of the falls, and John H. Stevens built a home on the other side. In Dakota language, the city's name means 'Many Lakes Town'. The name Minneapolis was created by combining the Dakota word for 'water' with the Greek word for 'city'. Minneapolis became a town in 1856 and a city in 1867, later merging with St. Anthony in 1872.

Industries develop

Minneapolis grew around Saint Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi. In the 1800s, the city became known for flour and lumber milling. By 1884, Minneapolis flour milling was the best in the world, and by 1899, it led in lumber sales. The city earned the nickname "Mill City". Disasters happened in the late 1800s, including fires and an explosion that damaged the mills.

Lumber came from forests in northern Minnesota, mostly cut by people from Maine. Logs were floated down the Mississippi to St. Louis until the early 1900s. Many mills used water power at first, but later used steam. Lumbering declined as forests were cut down, and mills closed by 1919. Some lumber workers moved to the Pacific Northwest for Douglas fir.

In 1877, Cadwallader C. Washburn helped start Washburn-Crosby, which became General Mills. They used new ideas from Hungary. Wheat farms grew across the Great Plains, and railroads brought wheat to Minneapolis mills. Minnesota's hard red spring wheat became famous, and Minneapolis milled much of America's grain. Production peaked in 1916 but declined due to soil problems and changes in shipping costs. In the 1920s, companies moved some operations to Buffalo, New York and Kansas City, Missouri, but kept offices in Minneapolis. The falls became a historic area, and plans were made to transfer land there to a Dakota-led group in 2026.

After milling declined, Minneapolis became a modern city. Around 1900, skilled workers came from the University of Minnesota. Companies like Munsingwear and Thermo King started here. Medtronic began in a garage in 1949. Control Data started in 1957 and helped develop early computers. The University of Minnesota created Gopher in 1991, but the World Wide Web soon became more popular.

Social tensions

Further information: List of incidents of civil unrest in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, 2020–2023 Minneapolis–Saint Paul racial unrest, and Operation Metro Surge

The 20th century had many challenges for Minneapolis, starting with years of corruption. In the 1920s and 1940s, a gangster named Kid Cann was involved in illegal activities.

During the Great Depression in the 1930s, truck drivers went on strikes. Their success helped create laws to protect workers' rights.

From the end of World War I until 1950, some people in Minneapolis were unkind to Jewish people. In the 1940s, a mayor worked to improve the city's reputation and help minorities. However, life remained difficult for Black people. In 1966 and 1967, protests happened on Plymouth Avenue. In 1968, a group of Native Americans started the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis. In 2020, a video showed how a police officer treated a Black man unfairly, leading to protests around the world.

In December 2025, a federal operation began targeting some people in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. This caused protests and cost the city a lot of money.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Minneapolis

Further information: Climate of Minnesota, Climate of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and Geology of Minnesota

Minneapolis grew because of its special location by water. Long ago, glaciers shaped the land, creating rivers and lakes that now define the city. The city sits on flat land with the Mississippi River running through it. Minneapolis has many lakes, streams, and a lot of shoreline along the river.

Minneapolis has many different neighborhoods, each with its own community groups. These groups help plan and improve their areas. The city also has changing weather, with hot summers and cold winters, including snow and rain throughout the year.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Minneapolis

The Minneapolis area was first home to Dakota bands, especially the Mdewakanton, before European Americans arrived. In the 1840s, settlers came from places like Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, with French-Canadians arriving around the same time. Farmers from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania followed. Settlers from New England greatly influenced the city's early civic life.

Mexican migrant workers began coming to Minnesota as early as 1860, and Latinos later settled in neighborhoods such as Phillips, Whittier, Longfellow, and Northeast. Before 2000, Latinos were the state's largest and fastest-growing immigrant group.

Immigrants from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark shared common beliefs with earlier New England settlers. Irish, Scots, and English immigrants arrived after the Civil War, followed by Germans and Jews from Central and Eastern Europe, and Russians. Italians and Greeks came in the 1890s and 1900s, with Slovaks and Czechs settling in the Bohemian Flats area. Ukrainians arrived after 1900, and Central European migrants lived in the Northeast neighborhood.

Chinese immigration began in the 1870s, with businesses centered on the Gateway District and Glenwood Avenue. Japanese Americans, many relocating from San Francisco, worked at Camp Savage, a secret military school for training interpreters and translators. After World War II, some Japanese and Japanese Americans stayed in Minneapolis, forming part of the state's largest Asian American community by 1970. In the 1950s, the US government relocated Native Americans to cities like Minneapolis. Koreans arrived around 1970, and the first Filipinos came to attend the University of Minnesota. Vietnamese, Hmong, Lao, and Cambodians settled mainly in Saint Paul around 1975 but also built organizations in Minneapolis. In 1992, Tibetan immigrants came to Minnesota, many settling in the Whittier neighborhood. Burmese immigrants arrived in the early 2000s, some moving to Greater Minnesota. The number of people from India in Minneapolis increased by 1,000 between 2000 and 2010, making it the largest concentration of Indians in the state.

Minneapolis' population grew until 1950, when the census reached its peak at 521,718—the only time it exceeded half a million. The population then declined for decades as people moved to the suburbs and out of the Midwest.

By 2030, Minneapolis had one of the nation's highest literacy rates among Black residents. However, discrimination stopped them from getting higher-paying jobs. In 1935, Cecil Newman and the Minneapolis Spokesman led a year-long boycott of four breweries that refused to hire Blacks. Employment improved during World War II, but housing discrimination continued. Between 1950 and 1970, the number of Black people in Minneapolis increased by 436 percent. After the Rust Belt economy declined in the 1980s, Black migrants were drawn to Minneapolis for jobs, good schools, and safe neighborhoods. In the 1990s, immigrants from the Horn of Africa began arriving, from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and especially Somalia. Immigration from Somalia slowed significantly following a 2017 national executive order. As of 2022, about 3,000 Ethiopians and 20,000 Somalis live in Minneapolis.

The Williams Institute reported that the Twin Cities had an estimated 4.2-percent LGBT adult population in 2020. In 2023, the Human Rights Campaign gave Minneapolis 94 points out of 100 on the Municipal Equality Index for support of the LGBTQ+ population. Twin Cities Pride is held every June.

Census and estimates

Minneapolis is the most populous city in Minnesota and the 46th-most populous city in the United States as of 2024. According to the 2020 US Census, Minneapolis had a population of 429,954. Of this population, 44,513 (10.4 percent) identified as Hispanic or Latino. Of those not Hispanic or Latino, 249,581 people (58.0 percent) were White alone, 81,088 (18.9 percent) were Black or African American alone, 24,929 (5.8 percent) were Asian alone, 7,433 (1.2 percent) were American Indian and Alaska Native alone, 25,387 (0.6 percent) some other race alone, and 34,463 (5.2 percent) were multiracial.

The most common ancestries in Minneapolis, according to the 2021 American Community Survey, were German (22.9 percent), Irish (10.8 percent), Norwegian (8.9 percent), Sub-Saharan African (6.7 percent), and Swedish (6.1 percent). Among people five years and older, 81.2 percent spoke only English at home, while 7.1 percent spoke Spanish and 11.7 percent spoke other languages, including many Somali and Hmong speakers. About 13.7 percent of the population was born abroad, with 53.2 percent of them being US citizens. Most immigrants came from Africa (40.6 percent), Latin America (25.2 percent), and Asia (24.6 percent), with 34.6 percent of all foreign-born residents arriving in 2010 or earlier.

The 2021 median household income in Minneapolis was $69,397 ($82,453 in 2025), similar to the US household median income of $70,784 in 2021. The median household income was $97,670 for families, $123,693 for married couples, and $54,083 for non-family households. In 2023, the median Minneapolis rent was $1,529, compared to the national median of $1,723. Over 92 percent of housing units in Minneapolis were occupied. Housing units built in 1939 or earlier made up 43.7 percent of the city. Almost 17 percent of residents lived in poverty in 2023, compared to the US average of 11.1 percent. As of 2022, 90.8 percent of residents age 25 or older had earned a high school degree compared to 89.1 percent nationally, and 53.5 percent had a bachelor's degree or higher compared to the 34.3 percent US national average. US veterans made up 2.8 percent of the population compared to the national average of 5 percent in 2023.

In Minneapolis in 2020, Black people owned homes at a rate one-third that of White families. Statewide by 2022, the gap between White and Black home ownership improved slightly. Statewide, alongside this small improvement was a sharp increase in the number of deaths among Black people related to alcohol, drugs, and other factors. The Minneapolis income gap in 2018 was one of the largest in the country, with Black families earning about 44 percent of what White families earned annually. Statewide in 2022, using inflation-adjusted dollars, the median income for a Black family was $34,377 less than a White family's median income, an improvement of $7,000 since 2019.

Structural racism

Before 1910, Minneapolis was relatively unsegregated with a Black population of less than one percent. However, racial covenants were written into deeds, preventing non-Whites from owning or leasing properties. This practice continued for four decades, leading to increased racial division. Though such language was prohibited by state law in 1953 and by the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, restrictive covenants remained in many Minneapolis deeds as of the 2020s. In 2021, the city gave residents a way to remove them.

Minneapolis has a history of structural racism with disparities in nearly every part of society. As White settlers took the city's land from the Indigenous population in the 19th century, control of the land led to today's disparities. Discrimination increased when flour milling moved to the East Coast and the economy declined.

Racial covenants created segregation in housing, property value, homeownership, wealth, housing security, access to green spaces, and health equity. The city noted in a plan that racially discriminatory federal housing policies from the 1930s "left a lasting effect on the city's physical characteristics and the financial well-being of its residents."

Reports discuss how systemic racism affects education in Minnesota. Housing disparities created educational disparities that continue today. Policing policies evolved to manage racially disparate arrests, and discriminatory policies became embedded in Minnesota life. Government efforts to address these issues included zoning changes in the 2040 plan and declaring racism a public health emergency in 2020.

Religion

Further information: Religion in Minnesota

Twin Cities residents are 59 percent Christian, according to a Pew Research Center survey in 2023-24. The largest groups are Mainline Protestant (21%), Catholic (18%), and Evangelical Protestant (16%). Settlers from New England were mostly Protestants, Quakers, and Universalists. The oldest continuously used church, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, was built in 1856 by Universalists and later acquired by a French Catholic congregation. St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral was founded in 1887 and opened a missionary school, creating a Russian Orthodox seminary in 1905. Edwin Hawley Hewitt designed St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral and Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, both south of downtown. The Basilica of Saint Mary, the first basilica in the US and co-cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was named by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was headquartered in Minneapolis from the 1950s until 2001. Christ Church Lutheran in the Longfellow neighborhood was the final work of Eliel Saarinen, with an education building designed by his son Eero.

Along with the national trend, the metro area's next largest group after Christians is the 34-percent non-religious population. More than 50 denominations and religions are present in Minneapolis, representing most of the world's religions. Temple Israel was built in 1928 by the city's first Jewish congregation, Shaarai Tov, formed in 1878. By 1959, a Temple of Islam was located in north Minneapolis. In 1971, about 150 people attended classes at a Hindu temple near the University of Minnesota. In 1972, the Twin Cities' first Shi'a Muslim family resettled from Uganda. Somalis in Minneapolis are mainly Sunni Muslim. In 2022, Minneapolis changed its noise ordinance to allow broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer five times per day. The city has about seven Buddhist centers and meditation centers.

Economy

Further information: Economy of Minnesota

Minneapolis has a strong economy. In the past, millers needed to pay for wheat with cash and store it until they needed it for flour. This led to the creation of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange in 1881, which is still the only place to trade hard red spring wheat futures near the river.

The city also became a major financial center because of the lumber industry. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis serves several states and has one branch in Helena, Montana.

Today, many people in Minneapolis work in trade, transportation, education, health services, and professional services. The city is home to several big companies, including Target Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, and Thrivent. The area’s economy was very strong, with a large gross domestic product in recent years.

Arts and culture

Main article: Arts in Minneapolis

The city of Minneapolis has a rich history of art and culture. The Walker Art Center began as a private art collection and later became a place for modern and contemporary art. It also has a special garden with many sculptures.

The Minneapolis Institute of Art has a huge collection of artworks from many parts of the world and many different times. It was built to be a cultural center with many spaces for different kinds of art.

Minneapolis is also known for its theaters and music. The Guthrie Theater is famous for its special stage design where the audience sits around the performance. The city has many music venues and is the home of famous musicians, including Prince.

There are also many museums in Minneapolis that show the city's history and culture from different parts of the world. The Mill City Museum tells the story of the city's flour milling past, and there are museums for African American, Somali, and Swedish heritage.

The city has many libraries and places for writers. The Minneapolis Public Library has many branches and special collections for researchers.

Minneapolis has a special food scene too. There are many farmers markets, and the city has produced famous chefs and food writers. Some well-known foods from Minneapolis include the Milky Way candy bar and the Jucy Lucy burger.

Further information: List of theaters in Minnesota

Further information: Music of Minnesota

Further information: Cuisine of the Midwestern United States § Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Main article: Hennepin County Library

Sports

Main articles: Sports in Minneapolis–Saint Paul and Sports in Minnesota

Minneapolis is home to four professional sports teams. The Minnesota Vikings, an American football team, and the Minnesota Twins, a baseball team, have been part of the city's sports scene since 1961. The Twins have won two World Series titles and play at Target Field. The Vikings have appeared in several big games but haven’t won yet.

The city also has basketball teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, who play at the Target Center. The Lynx have been very successful in their league. Other teams include the Minnesota Frost for women’s hockey, the Minnesota Wild for hockey, and Minnesota United FC for soccer, who play in nearby Saint Paul.

Minneapolis is also important for college sports, especially for the University of Minnesota's Minnesota Golden Gophers. Their football, basketball, and ice hockey teams have achieved many championship wins over the years.

The huge U.S. Bank Stadium was built for the Vikings and can hold many fans. It’s used for many events besides football games. The city also has golf courses and hosts annual events like the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Nokomis and the Twin Cities Marathon. Sometimes these events change plans because of weather.

Parks and recreation

The city of Minneapolis has many beautiful parks and green spaces. A landscape architect named Horace Cleveland helped design the park system in the 1880s, connecting natural landmarks with paths and greenways. One famous park is Minnehaha Park, which has a large waterfall called Minnehaha Falls.

The parks are managed by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which takes care of neighborhood parks, street trees, and waterfront land. There are 185 neighborhood parks and many larger parks, including Theodore Wirth Park. About 15 percent of the city is park land, and most people live close to a park. The Chain of Lakes area has five lakes connected by paths for walking, biking, and running. People enjoy many activities there, like swimming, fishing, and boating. In winter, people can ice skate, go ice fishing, and enjoy other cold-weather fun at the parks.

Government

Further information: List of mayors of Minneapolis and Timeline of race relations and policing in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

In Minneapolis, the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which is linked to the national Democratic Party, is the main political group. The city has not chosen a Republican mayor since 1975. At the national level, Minneapolis is part of Minnesota's 5th congressional district, represented by Democrat Ilhan Omar since 2018. Both of Minnesota's US senators, Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, are Democrats who were elected while living in Minneapolis. Jacob Frey, a former city council member, was elected mayor of Minneapolis in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021 and 2025. The city uses a special voting system called instant-runoff voting for its elections, first used in 2009.

The Minneapolis City Council has 13 members who represent the city's 13 areas. In 2021, voters decided to give the mayor more power. Now, the mayor and the city council share control of the city's money. The main way the city gets money is through property taxes. There is also a sales tax of 9.03 percent on purchases, which includes taxes from the city, county, state, and special districts. The Park and Recreation Board is a separate part of the city with nine elected leaders who collect their own taxes, following city rules. There is also a Board of Estimation and Taxation that watches over city taxes.

After a sad event in 2020, many police officers decided to leave their jobs. The city made changes to improve how police work, and in 2024, agreed to follow new rules to make sure police act better. In 2015, Minneapolis decided to stop using money from city investments to support fuels that hurt the environment. The city's plan is to cut down on harmful gases in the air by 2050. In 2021, the city decided that new buildings would not need to have as many parking spaces as before. Minneapolis also has a rule that police should not arrest people just for being from another country or asking about where they are from.

Education

In 1834, missionaries taught new farming methods and their religion to a local community near Lake Harriet, which was the first school in the Minneapolis area. By 1874, ten school buildings served nearly 4,000 students, and by 1933, the district had over one hundred schools with 90,000 students.

Today, Minneapolis Public Schools has space for 45,000 students and serves about 28,500 students in over fifty schools. Some students choose to attend charter schools, which are free and open to everyone. In 2025, the district faced financial challenges, leading to staff reductions. The student body is diverse, with many speaking different languages at home. Every student in the state receives free breakfast and lunch each school day.

Minneapolis is also home to many colleges and universities. The University of Minnesota Twin Cities, founded in 1851, is the largest, with over 45,000 students. Other schools include Augsburg University, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and several technical and community colleges offering various programs.

Media

Main article: Media in Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Minneapolis has many newspapers and magazines. Some well-known newspapers include Insight News, Finance & Commerce, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, Minnesota Women's Press, Star Tribune, and La Prensa de Minnesota. There are also many other papers and magazines published in the city.

The Minneapolis–Saint Paul area is a big market for TV and radio. In 2023, it was the 15th-largest area for TV viewers in the United States. The city has many FM and AM radio stations, and there are thousands of TV homes in the area.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Main articles: Transportation in Minnesota, Metro (Minnesota), and Trails in Minneapolis

In 2019, people in Minneapolis mostly drove alone for trips (40 percent), while only 3 percent biked. Other ways to travel included carpooling (28 percent), walking (16 percent), and using public transit (13 percent). The city wants 60 percent of trips to be without cars by 2030—35 percent by walking or biking and 25 percent by transit.

Metro Transit runs public transportation in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. As of 2026, it has two light rail lines and eight bus rapid transit lines. A big fleet of 736 buses stops at 10,745 places. In 2023, nearly 45 million rides were taken, which is 16 percent more than the year before. The Metro Blue Line links the Mall of America and Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport to downtown. The Green Line goes from downtown through the University of Minnesota to Saint Paul. Bus rapid transit lines are faster because riders pay before getting on, stops are fewer, and sometimes buses get special signals. Metro Transit plans to change more bus lines to this faster style soon.

Minneapolis has many bike paths and trails, including the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway and the Midtown Greenway. The city also has a system of enclosed walkways called skyways that connect many places downtown. Fifteen airlines fly from Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport.

Services and utilities

Xcel Energy provides electricity, and CenterPoint Energy supplies gas. The city's water comes from four watershed districts along the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

The city has nineteen fire stations. People can call for non-emergency help in many languages using phone, text, email, TTY, or a mobile app.

The public works department takes care of snow removal, trash pickup, traffic and parking, water treatment, and more. It is also building a big storm water tunnel under downtown to help with heavy rains.

Downtown ambassadors wear special jackets and help visitors, pick up trash, watch over places, and call police when needed. This program is paid for by a special tax from businesses downtown.

Health care

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota and COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota § Economy

Hennepin County Medical Center, which opened in 1887, is a major hospital. Other hospitals include Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Children's Minnesota, and the University of Minnesota medical centers.

Surgeons at the University of Minnesota have done important heart surgeries, helping many children with heart problems since the 1950s.

The city is working to help people with addiction, including special programs for African Americans and a new center being built by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. There is also a pharmacy that gives free medicines to members of federally recognized tribes living in the area.

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Minneapolis

Minneapolis has been home to many famous people throughout history. Some of these individuals have made big impacts in areas like music, sports, and entertainment. The city continues to be a place where interesting and talented people live and grow.

Sister cities

Minneapolis has many sister cities around the world. These cities work together to share ideas and support each other. Some of Minneapolis's sister cities include:

• Bosaso, Somalia (2014)
• Cuernavaca, Mexico (2008)
• Eldoret, Kenya (2000)
• Harbin, China (1992)
• Ibaraki, Japan (1980)
• Kuopio, Finland (1972)
• Najaf, Iraq (2009)
• Novosibirsk, Russia (1988)
• Santiago, Chile (1961)
• Tours, France (1991)
• Uppsala, Sweden (2000)
• Winnipeg, Canada (1973)