Minneapolis

Minneapolis
City
Downtown Minneapolis(from the Mississippi River) Lake Nokomis Mill City Museum First Avenue Minnehaha Falls
Flag Seal Logo
Etymology:Dakotamni'water'withGreekpolis'city'
Nicknames: "City of Lakes", [1]"Mill City", [1]"Twin Cities" [2](with Saint Paul), "Mini Apple" [1]
Motto: En Avant(French: 'Forward') [3]
Show Minneapolis Show Hennepin County Show Minnesota Show the United States
Coordinates:44°58′55″N93°16′09″W / 44.98194°N 93.26917°W /44.98194; -93.26917[4]
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
County	Hennepin
Incorporated	1867
Founded by	Franklin SteeleandJohn H. Stevens
Government
• Type	Mayor–council(strong mayor)[5]
• Body	Minneapolis City Council
•Mayor	Jacob Frey(DFL)
Area [6]
•City	57.51 sq mi (148.94 km2)
• Land	54.00 sq mi (139.86 km2)
• Water	3.51 sq mi (9.08 km2)
Elevation [4]	830 ft (250 m)
Population ( 2020) [7]
•City	429,954
• Estimate (2022) [8]	425,096
• Rank	46th (US) 1st (Minnesota)
• Density	7,962.11/sq mi (3,074.21/km2)
•Urban [9]	2,914,866
• Urban density	2,872.4/sq mi (1,109/km2)
•Metro [10]	3,693,729
Demonym	Minneapolitan
GDP [11]
• MSA	$277.6 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC–6(Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC–5(CDT)
ZIP Codes	55401-55419, 55423, 55429-55430, 55450, 55454-55455, 55484-55488
Area code	612
FIPS code	27-43000[4]
GNIS ID	655030[4]
Website	MinneapolisMN.gov

Minneapolis,^[a]officially theCity of Minneapolis,^[13]is a city in and thecounty seatofHennepin County, Minnesota, United States.^[4]With a population of 429,954, it is the state'smost populous cityas of the2020 census.^[7]It occupies both banks of theMississippi Riverand adjoinsSaint Paul, the state capital of Minnesota. Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and the surrounding area are collectively known as theTwin Cities, a metropolitan area with 3.69 million residents.^[14]Minneapolis is built on an artesian aquifer on flat terrain, and is known for cold, snowy winters and hot, humid summers. Nicknamed the "City of Lakes",^[15]Minneapolis is abundant in water, withthirteen lakes, wetlands, theMississippi River, creeks, and waterfalls. The city's public park system is connected by theGrand Rounds National Scenic Byway.

Dakota peopleoriginally inhabited the site of today's Minneapolis.European colonization and settlementbegan north ofFort SnellingalongSaint Anthony Falls—the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi River.^[16]The city's early growth was attributed to its proximity to the fort and the falls providing power for industrial activity. Minneapolis was the 19th-centurylumberandflour millingcapital of the world, and as home to theFederal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, it has preserved its financial clout into the 21st century. A Minneapolis Depression-era labor strike brought about federal worker protections. Work in Minneapolis contributed to the computing industry, and the city is the birthplace ofGeneral Mills, thePillsburybrand,Target Corporation, andThermo Kingmobile refrigeration.

The city's major arts institutions include theMinneapolis Institute of Art, theWalker Art Center, and theGuthrie Theater. Four professional sports teams play downtown.Princeis survived by his favorite venue, theFirst Avenue nightclub. Minneapolis is home to theUniversity of Minnesota's main campus. The city's public transport is provided byMetro Transit, and the international airport, serving the Twin Cities region, is located towards the south on the city limits.

Residents adhere to more than fifty religions. Despite its well-regarded quality of life,^[17]Minneapolis faces a pressing challenge in the form of stark disparities among its residents—arguably the most critical issue confronting the city in the 21st century.^[18]Governed by a mayor-council system, Minneapolis has a political landscape dominated by theMinnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party(DFL), withJacob Freyserving as mayor since 2018.

Two Indigenous nations inhabited the area now called Minneapolis.^[19]Archaeologists have evidence that since 1000 A.D.,^[20]they were theDakota(one half of theSiouxnation),^[21]and, after the 1700s,^[22]theOjibwe(also known as Chippewa, members of theAnishinaabenations).^[23]Dakota people have different stories to explain their creation.^[24]One widely accepted story says the Dakota emerged fromBdóte,^[24]the confluence of theMinnesotaandMississippi rivers. Dakota are the only inhabitants of the Minneapolis area who claimed no other land;^[25]they have no traditions of having immigrated.^[26]In 1680, clericLouis Hennepin, who was probably the first European to see the Minneapolis waterfall the Dakota people callOwámniyomni, renamed it the Falls of St.Anthony of Paduafor his patron saint.^[27]

In the space of sixty years, the US seized all of their land, and forced the Dakota out of their homeland.^[30]Purchasing most of modern-day Minneapolis,Zebulon Pikemade the1805 Treaty of St. Peterwith the Dakota.^[b]Pike bought a 9-square-mile (23 km²) strip of land—coinciding with the sacred place of Dakota origin^[24]—on the Mississippi south of Saint Anthony Falls,^[34]with the agreement the US would build a military fort and trading post there and the Dakota would retain their usufructuary rights.^[35]In 1819, theUS ArmybuiltFort Snelling^[36]to direct Native American trade away from British-Canadian traders, and to deter war between the Dakota andOjibwein northern Minnesota.^[37]Under pressure from US officials^[38]in a series of treaties, the Dakota ceded their land first to the east, and then to the west of the Mississippi, the river that runs through Minneapolis.^[39][c]Dakota leaders twice refused to sign the next treaty until they were paid for the previous one.^[51]In the decades following these treaty signings, thefederal US governmentrarely honored their terms.^[52]At the beginning of the American Civil War, annuity payments owed in June 1862 to the Dakota by treaty were late, causing acute hunger among the Dakota.^[53][d]Facing starvation^[55]a faction of the Dakota declaredwarin August and killed settlers.^[56]Serving without any prior military experience, US commanderHenry Sibleycommanded raw recruits,^[57]volunteer mounted troops from Minneapolis and Saint Paul with no military experience.^[58]The war went on for six weeks in the Minnesota River valley.^[59]After a trial described as akangaroo court,^[60]38 Dakota men died by hanging as ordered byAbraham Lincoln.^[59]The army force-marched 1,700 non-hostile Dakota men, women, children, and elders 150 miles (240 km) to aconcentration campatFort Snelling.^[28][61]Minneapolitans reportedly threatened more than once to attack the camp.^[62]In 1863, the US "abrogated and annulled" all treaties with the Dakota.^[63]With GovernorAlexander Ramseycalling for their extermination,^[64]most Dakota were exiled from Minnesota.^[65]

While the Dakota were being expelled,Franklin Steelelaid claim to the east bank ofSaint Anthony Falls,^[66]andJohn H. Stevensbuilt a home on the west bank.^[67]In theDakota language, the city's name isBde Óta Othúŋwe('Many Lakes Town').^[e]Residents had divergent ideas on names for their community.Charles Hoagproposed combining the Dakota word for 'water' (mni^[f]) with the Greek word for 'city' (polis), yieldingMinneapolis. In 1851, after a meeting of theMinnesota Territorial Legislature, leaders of east bank St. Anthony lost their bid to move the capital from Saint Paul.^[74]In a close vote, Saint Paul andStillwateragreed to divide federal funding:^[74]Saint Paul would be the capital, while Stillwater would build the prison. The St. Anthony contingent eventually won the state university.^[74]In 1856, the territorial legislature authorized Minneapolis as a town on the Mississippi's west bank.^[70]Minneapolis was incorporated as a city in 1867, and in 1872, it merged with St. Anthony.^[75]

Minneapolis developed around Saint Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi, which was used as a source of energy.^[16]The city's two founding industries—lumber and flour milling—developed in the 19th century nearly concurrently.^[g]Each came to prominence for about fifty years.^[h]In 1870, lumber was the main Minneapolis industry;^[80]a decade later, flour milling overtook the annual value of lumber products.^[80]Through its expanding mill industries, Minneapolis earned the nickname "Mill City."^[81]Due to the occupational hazards of milling, six companies manufactured artificial limbs.^[82]

Disasters struck in the late 19th century: theEastman tunnelunder the river leaked in 1869; twice, fire destroyed the entire row of sawmills on the east bank;^[83]an explosion of flour dust at theWashburn A millkilled eighteen people^[84]and demolished about half the city's milling capacity;^[85]and in 1893, fire spread from Nicollet Island to Boom Island to northeast Minneapolis, destroyed twenty blocks, and killed two people.^[86]

The lumber industry was built around forests in northern Minnesota, largely by lumbermen emigrating fromMaine's depleting forests.^[87][88]The region's waterways were used to transport logs well after railroads developed; the Mississippi River carried logs toSt. Louisuntil the early 20th century.^[89]In 1871, of the thirteen mills sawing lumber in St. Anthony, eight ran on water power, and five ran on steam power.^[90]Auxiliary businesses on the river's west bank included woolen mills, iron works, a railroad machine shop, and mills for cotton, paper, sashes, and wood-planing.^[91]Minneapolis supplied the materials for farmsteads and settlement of rapidly expanding cities on theprairiesthat lacked wood.^[92]White pinemilled in Minneapolis builtMiles City, Montana;Bismarck, North Dakota;Sioux Falls, South Dakota;Omaha, Nebraska; andWichita, Kansas.^[93]Growing use of steam power freed lumbermen and their sawmills from dependence on the falls.^[94]Lumbering's decline began around the turn of the century,^[95]and sawmills in the city including theWeyerhausermill closed by 1919.^[96]After depleting Minnesota's white pine,^[97]some lumbermen moved on toDouglas firin thePacific Northwest.^[98]

In 1877,Cadwallader C. Washburnfounded Washburn-Crosby,^[100]the company that becameGeneral Mills.^[101][i]Washburn and partnerJohn Crosby^[102]sent Austrian civil engineerWilliam de la BarretoHungarywhere he acquired innovations throughindustrial espionage.^[103]De la Barre calculated and managed the power at the falls and encouraged steam for auxiliary power.^[104]Charles Alfred Pillsburyand theC. A. Pillsbury Companyacross the river hired Washburn employees and began using the new methods.^[103]Thehard red spring wheatgrown in Minnesota became valuable, and Minnesota "patent" flour was recognized at the time as the best bread flour in the world.^[103]In 1900, fourteen percent of America's grain was milled in Minneapolis^[103]and about one third of that was shipped overseas.^[105]Overall production peaked at 18.5 million barrels in 1916.^[106]Decades ofsoil exhaustion,stem rust, and changes in freight tariffs combined to quash the city's flour industry.^[107]In the 1920s, Washburn-Crosby and Pillsbury developed new milling centers inBuffalo, New York, andKansas City, Missouri, while maintaining their headquarters in Minneapolis.^[108]The falls became anational historic district,^[109]and the upper St. Anthonylock and damis permanently closed.^[110]

Columnist Don Morrison says that after the milling era waned a "modern, major city" emerged.^[111]In 1900, Minneapolis attracted skilled workers^[112]who leveraged expertise from the University of Minnesota.^[113]In 1923,Munsingwearwas the world's largest manufacturer of underwear.^[114]Frederick McKinley Jonesinvented mobilerefrigerationin Minneapolis, and with his associate foundedThermo Kingin 1938.^[115]In 1949,Medtronicwas founded in a Minneapolis garage.^[116]Minneapolis-Honeywellbuilt a south Minneapolis campus where their experience regulating indoor temperature earned them military contracts for theNorden bombsightand the C-1autopilot.^[117]In 1957,Control Databegan in downtown Minneapolis, where in theCDC 1604they replacedvacuum tubeswithtransistors.^[118]A highly successful business until disbanded in 1990, Control Data opened a facility in economically depressed north Minneapolis, bringing jobs and good publicity.^[118]AUniversity of Minnesotacomputing group releasedGopherin 1991; three years later, World WideWeb trafficoutweighed Gopher traffic.^[119]

In many ways, the 20th century in Minneapolis was a difficult time of bigotry and malfeasance, beginning with four decades of corruption.^[121]Known initially as a kindly physician, mayorDoc Amesmade his brother police chief, ran the city into crime, and tried to leave town in 1902 according to historian Iric Nathanson.^[122]TheKu Klux Klanwas a force in the city from 1921^[123]until 1923.^[124]The gangsterKid Cannengaged in bribery and intimidation between the 1920s and the 1940s.^[125]After Minnesota passed aeugenicslaw in 1925, the proprietors ofEitel Hospitalsterilizedpeople atFaribault State Hospital.^[126]

During the summer of 1934 and the financial downturn of the Great Depression, theCitizens' Alliance, an association of employers, refused to negotiate withteamsters. The truck driversunionexecutedstrikesin May and July–August.^[127]Charles Rumford Walkersaid that Minneapolis teamsters succeeded in part due to the "military precision of the strike machine".^[128]The union victory ultimately led to1935and1938federal laws protecting workers' rights.^[129]

From the end of World War I in 1918 until 1950,antisemitismwas commonplace in Minneapolis—Carey McWilliamscalled the city the antisemitic capital of the US.^[130]Starting in 1936, a fascisthate groupknown as theSilver Shirtsheld meetings in the city.^[131]In the 1940s, mayorHubert Humphreyworked to rescue the city's reputation,^[132]and helped the city establish the country's firstfair employment practicesand a human-relations council that interceded on behalf of minorities.^[133]However, the lives of Black people had not been improved.^[134]In 1966 and 1967—years of significantturmoil across the US—suppressed anger among the Black population was released in two disturbances on Plymouth Avenue.^[135]A coalition reached a peaceful outcome but again failed to solve Black poverty and unemployment.^[136]

Disparate events defined the second half of the 20th century. Between 1958 and 1963, Minneapolis demolished "skid row".^[j]Gone were 35 acres (10 ha) with more than 200 buildings, or roughly 40 percent of downtown, including theGateway Districtand its significant architecture such as theMetropolitan Building.^[138]In 1968,relocatedNative Americans founded theAmerican Indian Movement(AIM)^[139]in Minneapolis. Begun as an alternative to public andBureau of Indian Affairs schools, AIM'sHeart of the Earth Survival Schooltaught Native American traditions to children for nearly twenty years.^[140]In a backlash of the "dominant" White voters,Charles Stenvig, a law-and-order candidate, became mayor in 1969, and governed for almost a decade.^[141][142]After their marriage license was denied, a same-sex Minneapolis couple appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court inBaker v. Nelson.^[143]They managed to get a license and marry in 1971,^[143]forty years beforeMinnesota legalized same-sex marriage, andObergefell v. Hodgesdid so nationwide.^[144]Immigration helped to curb the city's mid-20th century population decline. But because of a few radicalized persons, the city's large Somali population was targeted with discrimination after9/11, when itshawalasor banks were closed.^[145]

In 2020, 17-year-oldDarnella Frazierrecorded themurder of George Floyd;^[146]Frazier's video contradicted the police department's initial statement.^[147]Floyd, a Black man, suffocated whenDerek Chauvin, a White Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck and back for more than nine minutes. Reporting onthe local reaction,The New York Timessaid that "over three nights, a five-mile stretch of Minneapolis sustained extraordinary damage"^[148]—destruction included a police station that demonstrators overran and set on fire.^[149]Floyd's murder sparked international rebellions, mass protests,^[150]and locally, years ofongoing unrestover racial injustice.^[151]

The history and economic growth of Minneapolis are linked to water, the city's defining physical characteristic.Long periods of glaciation and interglacial meltcarved several riverbeds through what is now Minneapolis.^[153]During thelast glacial period, around 10,000 years ago, ice buried in these ancient river channels melted, resulting in basins that filled with water to become thelakes of Minneapolis.^[154]Meltwater fromLake Agassizfed theGlacial River Warren, which createda large waterfallthat eroded upriver past the confluence of the Mississippi River, where it left a 75-foot (23-meter) drop in the Mississippi.^[155]This site is located in what is now downtown Saint Paul. The new waterfall, later called Saint Anthony Falls, in turn, eroded up the Mississippi about eight miles (13 kilometers) to its present location, carving theMississippi River gorgeas it moved upstream.Minnehaha Fallsalso developed during this period via similar processes.^[156][155]

Minneapolis is sited above anartesian aquifer^[157]and on flat terrain. Its total area is 59 square miles (152.8 square kilometers) of which six percent is covered by water.^[158]The city has a 12-mile (19 km) segment of the Mississippi River, four streams, and 17 waterbodies—13 of them lakes,^[159]with 24 miles (39 km) of lake shoreline.^[160]

A 1959 report by the USSoil Conservation Servicelisted Minneapolis's elevation abovemean sea levelas 830 feet (250 meters).^[161]The city's lowest elevation of 687 feet (209 m) above sea level is near the confluence of Minnehaha Creek with the Mississippi River.^[162]Sources disagree on the exact location and elevation of the city's highest point, which is cited as being between 967 and 985 feet (295 and 300 m) above sea level.^[k]

Minneapolis has 83 neighborhoods and 70 neighborhood organizations.^[165]In some cases, two or more neighborhoods act together under one organization.^[166]

Around 1990, the city set up the Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), in which every one of the city's eighty-some neighborhoods participated.^[167]Funded for 20 years through 2011, with $400 milliontax increment financing(TIF),^[167]the program caught the eye ofUN-Habitatwho considered it an example ofbest practices. Residents had a direct connection to government in NRP, whereby they proposed ideas appropriate for their area, and NRP reviewed the plans and provided implementation funds.^[167][168]The city's Neighborhood and Community Relations department took NRP's place in 2011^[169]and is funded only by city revenue. In 2019, the city released the Neighborhoods 2020 program, which reworked neighborhood funding with an equity-focused lens.^[170]This reduced guaranteed funding, and several neighborhood organizations have since struggled with operations or merged with other neighborhoods due to decreased revenue.^[171]In his 2024 proposed budget, the mayor suggested an increase in base funding for neighborhood organizations.^[172]

In 2018, theMinneapolis City Councilapproved the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan, which resulted in a citywide end tosingle-family zoning.^[173]Slatereported that Minneapolis was believed to be the first major city in the US to make citywide such a revision in housing possibilities.^[174]At the time, 70 percent of residential land was zoned for detached, single-family homes,^[175]though many of those areas had "nonconforming" buildings with more housing units.^[176]City leaders sought to increase the supply of housing so more neighborhoods would be affordable and to decrease the effects single-family zoning had caused on racial disparities and segregation.^[177]TheBrookings Institutioncalled it "a relatively rare example of success for theYIMBYagenda".^[178]From 2022 until 2024,^[179][180]theMinnesota Supreme Court, theUS District Court, and theMinnesota Court of Appealsarrived at competing opinions, first shutting down the plan, and then securing its survival. Ultimately in 2024, the state legislature passed a bill approving the city's 2040 plan.^[181]

Minneapolis experiences a hot-summerhumid continental climate(Dfain theKöppen climate classification)^[182]that is typical of southern parts of theUpper Midwest; it is situated in USDAplant hardinesszone 5a.^{[183][184][185]}The Minneapolis area experiences a full range of precipitation and related weather events, including snow, sleet, ice, rain, thunderstorms, and fog. The highest recorded temperature is 108 °F (42 °C) inJuly 1936while the lowest is −41 °F (−41 °C) in January 1888.^[186]The snowiest winter on record was 1983–1984, when 98.6 in (250 cm) of snow fell.^[187]The least-snowy winter was 1930–1931, when 14.2 inches (36 cm) fell.^[187]According to theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the annual average forsunshine durationis 58 percent.^[188]

Historical population

Census	Pop.	Note	%±
1860	5,809		—
1870	13,066		124.9%
1880	46,887		258.8%
1890	164,738		251.4%
1900	202,718		23.1%
1910	301,408		48.7%
1920	380,582		26.3%
1930	464,356		22.0%
1940	492,370		6.0%
1950	521,718		6.0%
1960	482,872		−7.4%
1970	434,400		−10.0%
1980	370,951		−14.6%
1990	368,383		−0.7%
2000	382,618		3.9%
2010	382,578		0.0%
2020	429,954		12.4%
2022 (est.)	425,096	[8]	−1.1%
US Decennial Census[194] 2020 Census

The Minneapolis area was originally occupied byDakotabands, particularly theMdewakanton, untilEuropean Americansmoved westward.^[195]In the 1840s,^[196]new settlers arrived fromMaine,New Hampshire, andMassachusetts, whileFrench-Canadianscame around the same time.^[197][198]Farmers fromIllinois,Indiana,Ohio, andPennsylvanialater followed in a secondary migration. Settlers from New England had an outsized influence on civic life.^[199]

Mexicanmigrant workersbegan coming to Minnesota as early as 1860, although few stayed year-round.^[200]Latinos eventually settled in several neighborhoods in Minneapolis, includingPhillips,Whittier,LongfellowandNortheast.^[201]Before the turn of the 21st century, Latinos were the state's largest and fastest-growing immigrant group.^[200][202]

Immigrants fromSweden,Norway, andDenmarkfound common ground with theRepublicanandProtestantbelief systems of the New England migrants who preceded them.^[203][204]Irish, Scots, and English immigrants arrived after theCivil War;^[205]Germans^[206]andJewsfromCentralandEastern Europe, as well asRussia, followed.^[207]Minneapolis welcomedItaliansandGreeksin the 1890s and 1900s,^[208][209]andSlovakandCzechimmigrants settled in theBohemian Flatsarea on the west bank of the Mississippi River.Ukrainiansarrived after 1900,^[210]and Central European migrants made their homes in the Northeast neighborhood.^[211]

Chinese began immigration in the 1870s and Chinese businesses centered on theGateway Districtand Glenwood Avenue.^[212]Westminster Presbyterian Churchgave language classes and support forChinese Americansin Minneapolis, many of whom had fled discrimination in western states.^[213]Japanese Americans, many relocated from San Francisco, worked atCamp Savage, a secret militaryJapanese-languageschool that trained interpreters and translators.^[214]Following World War II, some Japanese and Japanese Americans remained in Minneapolis, and by 1970, they numbered nearly 2,000, forming part of the state's largestAsian Americancommunity.^[215]In the 1950s, the US government relocatedNative Americansto cities like Minneapolis, attempting to dismantleIndian reservations.^[216]Around 1970,Koreansarrived,^[217]and the firstFilipinoscame to attend theUniversity of Minnesota.^[218]Vietnamese,Hmong(some fromThailand),Lao, andCambodianssettled mainly in Saint Paul around 1975, but some built organizations in Minneapolis.^[219][220]In 1992, 160Tibetan immigrantscame to Minnesota, and many settled in the city's Whittier neighborhood.^[221]Burmeseimmigrants arrived in the early 2000s, with some moving toGreater Minnesota.^[222]The population of people from India in Minneapolis increased by 1,000 between 2000 and 2010, making it the largest concentration of Indians living in the state.^[223]

The population of Minneapolis grew until 1950 when the census peaked at 521,718—the only time it has exceeded a half million. The population then declined for decades; after World War II, people moved to the suburbs and generally out of the Midwest.^[224]

By 1930, Minneapolis had one of the nation's highest literacy rates among Black residents.^{[225][226]c. 1930_"In_Minneapolis_only_1.7%_of_blacks_over_10_years_of_age_were_illiterate"_240-0" class="reference">c. 1930_"In_Minneapolis_only_1.7%_of_blacks_over_10_years_of_age_were_illiterate"-240">[227]}However,discriminationprevented them from obtaining higher-paying jobs.^[228]In 1935,Cecil Newmanand theMinneapolis Spokesmanled a year-long consumer boycott of four area breweries that refused to hire Blacks.^[229]Employment improved during World War II, buthousing discriminationpersisted.^[230]Between 1950 and 1970, the Black population in Minneapolis increased by 436 percent.^[229]After theRust Belteconomy declined in the 1980s, Black migrants were attracted to Minneapolis for its job opportunities, good schools, and safe neighborhoods.^[231]In the 1990s, immigrants from theHorn of Africabegan to arrive,^[232]fromEritrea,Ethiopia, and particularlySomalia.^[233]Immigration from Somalia slowed significantly following a2017 national executive order.^[234]As of 2022, about 3,000 Ethiopians and 20,000Somalis reside in Minneapolis.^[235]

TheWilliams Institutereported that the Twin Cities had an estimated 4.2-percentLGBTadult population in 2020.^[236]In 2023, theHuman Rights Campaigngave Minneapolis 94 points out of 100 on the Municipal Equality Index of support for the LGBTQ+ population.^[237]Twin Cities Prideis held in May.^[238]

Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-largest city in the United States by population as of 2023.^[239][240]According to the2020 US Census, Minneapolis had a population of 429,954.^[241]Of this population, 44,513 (10.4 percent) identified asHispanic or Latinos.^[242]Of those not Hispanic or Latino, 249,581 people (58.0 percent) wereWhitealone (62.7 percent White alone or in combination), 81,088 (18.9 percent) wereBlack or African Americanalone (21.3 percent Black alone or in combination), 24,929 (5.8 percent) wereAsianalone, 7,433 (1.2 percent) wereAmerican Indian and Alaska Nativealone, 25,387 (0.6 percent) some other race alone, and 34,463 (5.2 percent) weremultiracial.^[241]

Race and ethnicity of Minneapolis, 1990–2020

Race/ethnicity
	2020[243]		2010[244]		2000[245]		1990[246]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Whitealone	249,581	58.05%	230,650	60.29%	239,771	62.69%	285,409	77.48%
Blackalone	81,088	18.86%	69,971	18.29%	66,523	17.39%	47,170	12.8%
Hispanic or Latino(any race)	44,513	10.35%	40,073	10.47%	29,085	7.6%	7,900	2.14%
Asianalone	24,743	5.75%	21,399	5.59%	23,704	6.2%	15,373	4.17%
Native Americanalone	5,184	1.21%	6,351	1.66%	6,825	1.78%	11,807	3.21%
Other race alone	2,307	0.54%	1,130	0.3%	1,200	0.31%	724	0.2%
Two or more races	22,538	5.24%	13,004	3.4%	15,344	4.01%	—	—
Total	429,954	100%	382,578	100%	382,452	100%	368,383	100%

The most common ancestries in Minneapolis according to the 2021American Community Survey(ACS) wereGerman(22.9 percent),Irish(10.8 percent),Norwegian(8.9 percent),Subsaharan African(6.7 percent), andSwedish(6.1 percent).^[247]Among those five years and older, 81.2 percent spoke onlyEnglishat home, while 7.1 percent spokeSpanishand 11.7 percent spoke other languages, including large numbers ofSomaliandHmongspeakers.^[247]About 13.7 percent of the population wasborn abroad, with 53.2 percent of them beingnaturalizedUS citizens. Most immigrants arrived from Africa (40.6 percent), Asia (24.6 percent), and Latin America (25.2 percent), with 34.6 percent of all foreign-born residents having arrived in 2010 or earlier.^[247]

The 2021 ACS reported that the median household income in Minneapolis was $69,397. It was $97,670 for families, $123,693 for married couples, and $54,083 for non-family households.^[248][249]The median gross rent in Minneapolis was $1,225, and 92.7 percent of housing units in Minneapolis were occupied. Housing units in the city built in 1939 or earlier comprised 43.7 percent.^[250]About 15.0 percent of residents lived inpoverty.^[251]The percentage of residents who had obtained abachelor's degreeor higher was 53.6 percent, and 92.1 percent had at least ahigh school diploma.^[252]USveteransmade up 3.2 percent of the population.^[247]

In Minneapolis as of 2020, Blacks owned homes at a rate one-third that of White families.^[253][241]In the metro area, Black home ownership declined between 2000 and 2018; in the Twin Cities for that period, 93 percent of new Black households rented their homes.^[254]In 2018, the median income for a Black family was $36,000, which was $47,000 less than a White family's median income. This income gap was one of the largest in the country, with Black Minneapolitans earning about 44 percent of what White Minneapolitans earned annually.^[253]

Before 1910,^[134]when a developer wrote the first restrictive covenant based on race and ethnicity into a Minneapolis deed,^[255]the city was relatively unsegregated with a Black population of less than one percent.^[256]Realtors adopted the practice, thousands of times preventing non-Whites from owning or leasing properties;^[257]this practice continued for four decades until the city became more and more racially divided.^[258]Though such language was prohibited by state law in 1953 and by the federalFair Housing Act of 1968,^[259]restrictive covenants against minorities remained in many Minneapolis deeds as of the 2020s, and in 2021 the city gave residents a means to discharge them.^[260]

Minneapolis has a history ofstructural racism^[261]and has racial disparities in nearly every aspect of society.^[262]As White settlers displaced the Indigenous population during the 19th century, they claimed the city's land,^[263]and Kirsten Delegard ofMapping Prejudiceexplains that today's disparities evolved from control of the land.^[134]Discrimination increased when flour milling moved to theEast Coastand the economy declined.^[264]

The foundation laid by racialcovenantson residential segregation, property value, homeownership, wealth, housing security, access to green spaces, and health equity shapes the lives of people in the 21st century.^[265]The city wrote in a decennial plan that racially discriminatory federal housing policies starting in the 1930s "prevented access to mortgages in areas with Jews, African-Americans and other minorities" and "left a lasting effect on the physical characteristics of the city and the financial well-being of its residents".^[266]

Discussing aFederal Reserve Bank of Minneapolisreport on how systemic racism compromises education in Minnesota,^[267]ProfessorKeith Mayessays, "So the housing disparities created the educational disparities that we still live with today."^[268]ProfessorSamuel Myers Jr.says ofredlining, "Policing policies evolved that substituted explicit racial profiling with scientific management of racially disparate arrests.... raciallydiscriminatory policies became institutionalized and 'baked in' to the fabric of Minnesota life."^[269][n]In 2020, government efforts to address these disparities include declaring racism apublic health emergency^[271]and passing zoning changes in the 2018Minneapolis City Council2040 plan.^[272]

Twin Cities residents are 70 percentChristianaccording to aPew Research Centerreligious survey in 2014.^[274]Settlers who arrived in Minneapolis from New England were for the most partProtestants,Quakers, andUniversalists.^[275]The oldest continuously used church,Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, was built in 1856 by Universalists and soon afterward was acquired by a French Catholic congregation.^[276]St. Mary's Orthodox Cathedral was founded in 1887;^[277]it opened a missionary school and in 1905 created aRussian Orthodoxseminary.^[278]Edwin Hawley HewittdesignedSt. Mark's Episcopal CathedralandHennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, both of which are located south of downtown.^[279]TheBasilica of Saint Mary, the firstbasilicain the US andco-cathedralof theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was named byPope Pius XIin 1926.^[275]TheBilly Graham Evangelistic Associationwas headquartered in Minneapolis from the 1950s until 2001.^[280]Christ Church Lutheranin theLongfellowneighborhood was the final work in the career ofEliel Saarinen, and it has an education building designed by his sonEero.^[281]

Aligning with a national trend, the metro area's next largest group after Christians is the 23-percentnon-religiouspopulation.^[274]At the same time, more than 50 denominations and religions are present in Minneapolis, representing most of the world's religions.^[275]Temple Israelwas built in 1928 by the city's firstJewishcongregation, Shaarai Tov, which formed in 1878.^[207]By 1959, a Temple of Islam was located in north Minneapolis.^[282]In 1971, a reported 150 persons attended classes at a Hindu temple near the University of Minnesota.^[282]In 1972, the Twin Cities' firstShi'a Muslimfamily resettled from Uganda.^[283]Somalis who live in Minneapolis are primarilySunni Muslim.^[284]In 2022, Minneapolis amended its noise ordinance to allow broadcasting theMuslim call to prayerfive times per day.^[285]The city has about sevenBuddhistcenters and meditation centers.^[286]

Largest downtown
Minneapolis employers
2023 ^[287]

Rank	Company/Organization
1	Hennepin Healthcare
2	Target Corporation
3	Hennepin County
4	Wells Fargo
5	Ameriprise Financial
6	U.S. Bancorp
7	Xcel Energy
8	City of Minneapolis
9	SPS Commerce
10	RBC Wealth Management

Largest Minneapolis companies by revenue 2023 ^[288]

Minneapolis rank	Corporation	US rank	Revenue (in millions)
1	Target Corporation	33	$109,120
2	U.S. Bancorp	149	$27,401
3	Xcel Energy	271	$15,310
4	Ameriprise Financial	289	$14,347
5	Thrivent	412	$9,347

Early in the city's history, millers were required to pay for wheat with cash during the growing season and then to store the wheat until it was needed for flour.^[289]TheMinneapolis Grain Exchangewas founded in 1881; located near the riverfront, it is the only exchange as of 2023 forhard red springwheatfutures.^[290]

Along with cash requirements for the milling industry, the large amounts of capital that lumbering had accumulated stimulated the local banking industry and made Minneapolis a major financial center.^[291]TheFederal Reserve Bank of Minneapolisserves Minnesota,Montana,NorthandSouth Dakota, and parts ofWisconsinandMichigan; it has the smallest population of the twelve districts in theFederal Reserve System, and it has one branch inHelena, Montana.^[292]

Minneapolis area employment is primarily in trade, transportation, utilities, education, health services, and professional and business services. Smaller numbers of residents are employed in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, mining, logging, and construction.^[293]

In 2022, the Twin Cities metropolitan area tied withBostonas having the eighth-highest concentration of major corporate headquarters in the US.^[294]FiveFortune 500 corporationswere headquartered within the city limits of Minneapolis:^[288]Target Corporation,U.S. Bancorp,Ameriprise Financial,Xcel Energy, andThrivent.^[288]Other companies with offices or headquarters in Minneapolis includeAccenture,^[295]Bellisio Foods,^[296]Canadian Pacific,^[297]Coloplast,^[298]RBC,^[299]Deloitte,^[300]PricewaterhouseCoopers,^[301]andVoya Financial.^[302]

During theGilded Age, theWalker Art Centerbegan as a private art collection in the home of lumbermanT. B. Walker, who extended free admission to the public.^[304]Around 1940, the center's focus shifted to modern and contemporary art.^[305]In partnership with theMinneapolis Park & Recreation Board, the Walker operates the adjacentMinneapolis Sculpture Garden, which has about forty sculptures on view year-round.^[306]

TheMinneapolis Institute of Art(Mia) is located in south-central Minneapolis on the 10-acre (4 ha) former homestead of theMorrisonfamily.^[307]McKim, Mead & Whitedesigned a vast complex meeting the ambitions of the founders for a cultural center with spaces for sculpture, an art school, and orchestra. One-seventh of their design was built and opened in 1915. Additions by other firms from 1928 to 2006 achieved much of the original scheme.^[308]Today the collection of more than 90,000 artworks spans six continents and about 5,000 years.^[309]

Frank GehrydesignedWeisman Art Museum, which opened in 1993, for theUniversity of Minnesota.^[310]A 2011 addition by Gehry doubled the size of the galleries.^[311]The Museum of Russian Artopened in a restored church in 2005, and hosts a collection of 20th-century Russian art and special events.^[312]TheNortheast Minneapolis Arts Districthosts 400 independent artists, a center at theNorthrup-Kingbuilding, and presents theArt-A-Whirlopen studio tour every May.^[313][314]

Minneapolis has hosted theatrical performances since the end of the American Civil War.^[316]Early theaters includedPence Opera House, the Academy of Music, Grand Opera House, Lyceum, and later the Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1894.^[317]Fifteen of the fifty-five Twin Cities theater companies counted in 2015 by Peg Guilfoyle had a physical site in Minneapolis. About half the remainder performed in variable spaces throughout the metropolitan area.^[318]

In his social history ofAmerican regional theater, Joseph Zeigler calls theGuthrie Theaterthe "granddaddy" of regional theater.^[319]Tyrone Guthriefounded the Guthrie in 1963 with an inventivethrust stage—a collaboration by Guthrie, designerTanya Moiseiwitsch, and architectRalph Rapson^[320]—jutting into the seats and surrounded by the audience on three sides.^[321]French architectJean Nouveldesigned a new Guthrie that opened in 2006 overlooking the Mississippi River.^[321]The design team reproduced the thrust stage with some alterations, and they added aproscenium stageand an experimental stage.^[321]

Minneapolis purchased and renovated theOrpheum, the Shubert (now theCowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts),State, andPantages Theatres,vaudevilleand film houses onHennepin Avenuethat are now used for concerts, plays,^[322]and performing arts.^[323]Every August, theMinnesota Fringe Festivalhosts performances in venues across town.^[324]TheMay Day Paradeis held in south Minneapolis each May.^[325]

Minnesota Orchestraplays classical and popular music atOrchestra Hallunder music directorThomas Søndergård.^[328]The orchestra won a 2014Grammyfor their recording of Sibelius's first and fourth symphonies^[329]and a 2004Grammyfor composerDominick Argentowith their recording ofCasa Guidi.^[330]Minneapolis's opera companies includeMinnesota Opera,^[331]the Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company,^[332]andReally Spicy Opera.^[333]

Singer and multi-instrumentalistPrincewas achild prodigy^[334]who was born in Minneapolis and lived in the area for most of his life.^[335]In an era ofmusic scenes,^[336]1980s Minneapolis was a hotbed for American underground rock alongside R&B, funk, and soul^[337]thanks to the nightclubFirst Avenueand musicians likeHüsker Dü,The Replacements, and Prince.^[338]The city hosts several other concert venues including theCedarand theDakota.^[339]Live Nationbooks theArmoryand theUptown Theater.^[340]

Exhibits atMill City Museumfeature the city's history of flour milling.^[342]The Bakken, formerly known as the Bakken Library and Museum of Electricity in Life,^[343]shifted focus in 2016 from electricity and magnetism to invention and innovation, and in 2020 opened a new entrance onBde Maka Ska.^[344]Hennepin History Museumis housed in a former mansion.^[345]Built of elaborate woodwork in 1875 and maintained today as a historic site, the littleMinnehaha Depotwas a stop on one of the first railroads built out of Minneapolis.^[346]

TheAmerican Swedish Instituteoccupies a former mansion on Park Avenue.^[347]TheAmerican Indian Cultural Corridor, about eight blocks on Franklin Avenue, houses All My Relatives Gallery.^[348]In 2013, theSomali Museum of Minnesotaopened on Lake Street.^[349]TheMinnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallerywas founded in 2018.^[350]

In 2008, theMinneapolis Public Librarymerged with theHennepin County Library. Fifteen of the system'sforty-one branchesserve Minneapolis.^[351]The downtownCentral Library, designed byCésar Pelli, opened in 2006.^[352]Seven special collections hold resources for researchers.^[353]

The nonprofit literary pressesCoffee House Press,Graywolf Press, andMilkweed Editionsare based in Minneapolis.^[354]TheUniversity of Minnesota Presspublishes books, journals, and theMinnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.^[355]The Open Book facility housesThe Loft Literary Center, Milkweed, and theMinnesota Center for Book Arts.^[356]Other Minneapolis publishers are1517 Media,^[357]Button Poetry,^[358]andLerner Publishing Group.^[359]

After the flight to the suburbs began in the 1950s,streetcarservice ended citywide.^[360]One of the largest urbanfood desertsin the US developed on the north side of Minneapolis, where as of mid-2017, 70,000 people had access to only two grocery stores.^[361]WhenAldiclosed in 2023, the area again became a food desert with two full-service grocers.^[362]The nonprofit Appetite for Change sought to improve the diet of residents, competing against an influx of fast-food stores,^[363]and by 2017 it administered ten gardens, sold produce in the mid-year months at West Broadway Farmers Market, supplied its restaurants, and gave away boxes of fresh produce.^[364]West Broadway is one of twenty farmers markets and mini-markets operating in the city, and among them, four are open during winter.^[365]

Minneapolis-based individuals who have won the food industryJames Beard Foundation Awardinclude chefGavin Kaysen,^[366]writerDara Moskowitz Grumdahl,^[367]television personalityAndrew Zimmern,^[368]and chefSean Sherman,^[369]whose restaurantOwamnireceived James Beard's 2022 best new restaurant award.^[370]

Conceived in Minneapolis as a malted milkshake in candy form, theMilky Waybar ofnougat, caramel, and chocolate was made in the North Loop neighborhood during the 1920s.^[371]Both purported originators of theJucy Lucyburger—the5-8 ClubandMatt's Bar—have served it since the 1950s.^[372]East African cuisinearrived in Minneapolis with the wave of migrants from Somalia that started in the 1990s.^[373]The Herbivorous Butcher, described by CBS News as the "first vegan 'butcher' shop in the United States", opened in 2016.^[374]

Minneapolis has four professional sports teams. The American football teamMinnesota Vikingsand the baseball teamMinnesota Twinshave played in the state since 1961. The Vikings were aNational Football Leagueexpansion team, and the Twins were formed when theWashington Senatorsrelocated to Minnesota.^[375]The Twins won theWorld Seriesin 1987 and 1991, and have played atTarget Fieldsince 2010.^[376]The Vikings played in theSuper Bowlfollowing the 1969, 1973, 1974, and 1976 seasons, losing all four games.^[377]The basketball teamMinnesota TimberwolvesreturnedNational Basketball Association(NBA) basketball to Minneapolis in 1989, and were followed byMinnesota Lynxin 1999. Both basketball teams play in theTarget Center.^[378]In the 2010s, the Lynx were the most-successful Minnesota professional sports team and a dominant force in theWomen's National Basketball Association(WNBA), winning four WNBA championships from 2011 to 2017.^[379]

Minnesota Wild, aNational Hockey Leagueteam, play at theXcel Energy Center,^[380]and theMajor League Soccersoccer teamMinnesota United FCplay atAllianz Field. Both venues are located in Saint Paul.^[381]

In addition to professional sports teams, Minneapolis hosts a majority of theMinnesota Golden Gophers'college sportsteams of the University of Minnesota. TheGophers football teamplays atHuntington Bank Stadiumand has won sevennational championships.^[382]TheGophers women's ice hockeyteam is a six-timeNCAA champion.^[383]TheGophers men's ice hockeyteam plays at3M Arena at Mariucci, and won fiveNCAA championships.^[384]Both theGolden Gophers men's basketballandwomen's basketballteams play atWilliams Arena.^[385]

The 1,700,000-square-foot (160,000 m²)U.S. Bank Stadiumwas built for the Vikings at a cost of $1.122 billion; of this, the state of Minnesota provided $348million, and the city of Minneapolis spent $150million. The stadium, whichMPR Newscalled "Minnesota's biggest-ever public works project", opened in 2016 with 66,000 seats, which was expanded to 70,000 for the2018 Super Bowl.^[386]U.S. Bank Stadium also hosts indoor running and rollerblading nights.^[387]Minneapolis has two municipalgolf courses^[388]and one private course.^[389]Each January, theU.S. Pond Hockey Championshipsare held onLake Nokomis.^[390]TheTwin Cities Marathonheld in October is aBoston Marathonqualifier.^[391]The final weekend of the 2024 pond hockey championships was canceled due to above average temperatures,^[392]as was the 2023 marathon.^[393]

Landscape architectHorace Cleveland's masterpiece is the Minneapolis park system.^[394]In the 1880s, he preserved geographical landmarks and linked them with boulevards and parkways.^[395]In their introduction to a modern reprint of Cleveland's treatise onlandscape architecture, professors Daniel Nadenicek and Lance Neckar add that "Cleveland was successful in Minneapolis in great measure because he operated with kindred spirits" likeWilliam Watts FolwellandCharles M. Loring.^[396]In his bookThe American City: What Works, What Doesn't,Alexander Garvinwrote Minneapolis built "the best-located, best-financed, best-designed, and best-maintained public open space in America".^[397]

Cleveland lobbied for a park on the riverfront to include the city's other waterfall.^[398]In 1889,George A. Brackettarranged financing, and his associate Henry Brown paid the state to cover the condemnation of surrounding land.^[399]Minnehaha Parkcontaining the 53-foot (16 m) waterfallMinnehaha Fallsis one of Minnesota's first state parks.^[400]The falls became what historian Mary Lethert Wingerd calls a "civic emblem" that appears on products and in placenames.^[401]

The city's parks are governed and operated by the independentMinneapolis Park and Recreation Boardpark district.^[402]Beyond its network of 185 neighborhood parks,^[403]the park board owns the city's street trees.^[404]The board owns nearly all land that borders the city's waterfronts—thus the public owns the city's lakeshore property.^[405]The park board owns land outside the city limits including its largest park,Theodore Wirth Park—sitting west of downtown Minneapolis and partly in Golden Valley—which incorporates the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden and Bird Sanctuary.^[406]

As of 2020, approximately 15 percent of land in Minneapolis is parks, in accordance with the national median, and 98 percent of residents live within one-half mile (0.8 km) of a park.^[407]The city'sChain of Lakesextends through five lakes in southwest Minneapolis.^[408]The chain is connected by bicycle, running, and walking paths and is used for swimming, fishing, picnics, boating, ice skating, and other activities. A parkway for cars, abikewayfor riders, and a walkway for pedestrians^[409]run parallel along the 51-mile (82 km) route of theGrand Rounds National Scenic Byway.^[410]Parks are interlinked in many places, and theMississippi National River and Recreation Areaconnects regional parks and visitor centers.^[411]Among walks and hikes running along the Mississippi River, the five-mile (8 km), hiking-onlyWinchell Trailoffers views of and access to theMississippi Gorgeand a rustic hiking experience.^[412]TheMinneapolis Aquatennial, a festival of the city's water features, is held each July.^[413]

Minneapolis's climate provides opportunities for winter activities such asice fishing,snowshoeing,ice skating,cross-country skiing, andsleddingat many parks and lakes.^[414]As of 2023–2024, the park board maintained 22 outdoorice rinksin winter.^[415]

TheMinnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party(DFL), affiliated with the nationalDemocratic Party, is the dominant political force in Minneapolis.^[417]The city has not elected aRepublicanmayor since 1975.^[418]At the federal level, Minneapolis is inMinnesota's 5th congressional district, which has been represented by DemocratIlhan Omarsince 2018. Both of Minnesota's US senators,Amy KlobucharandTina Smith, are Democrats who were elected or appointed while residing in Minneapolis.^[419][420]Jacob Frey, a former DFL city council member, was elected as themayor of Minneapolisin2017and re-elected in2021.^[421]The city conducts its municipal elections usinginstant-runoff voting, which was first implemented ahead of the2009 elections.^[422]

TheMinneapolis City Councilhas 13 members who represent the city's 13 wards.^[423]In 2021, aballot questionshifted more weight from the city council to the mayor; proponents had tried to achieve this change since the early 20th century.^[424]The mayor and city council now share responsibility for the city's finances.^[425]The city's primary source of funding is property tax.^[426]A sales tax of 9.03 percent^[427]on purchases made within the city is a combination of state, county, special district taxes, a city sales tax of 0.50 percent, and a local use tax for out-of-state purchases.^[428][429]ThePark and Recreation Boardis an independent city department with nine elected commissioners who levy their own taxes, subject to city charter limits.^[402]The Board of Estimation and Taxation, which oversees city levies, is also an independent department.^[430]

The mayoral reform ballot measure led to the creation of a new Office of Community Safety, with a single commissioner responsible for overseeing the police and fire departments, 911 dispatch, emergency management, and violence prevention.^[431]Within the office, four emergency response units serve the city:Behavioral Crisis Response(BCR), fire, emergency medical services, and police.^[432]Canopy Mental Health & Consulting, also known as Canopy Roots, operates BCR free of charge^[432]to respond to crises and some 911 calls that do not require police.^[433]

After themurder of George Floydin 2020, about 166 police officers left of their own accord either to retirement or to temporary leave—many withPTSD^[434]—and a crime wave resulted in more than 500 shootings.^[435]AReutersinvestigation found that killings surged when a "hands-off" attitude resulted in fewer officer-initiated encounters.^[436]After Floyd's murder, chiefs reprimanded a dozen officers for misconduct,^[437]and as of early 2024, the city had paid outUS$50million for police conduct claims.^[438]In 2024 came approval of an independent monitor of a court-enforceableconsent decree, an agreement negotiated with theMinnesota Department of Human Rightsand theUnited States Department of Justiceto compel reformed policing practices.^[439]

Violent crime rose three percent across Minneapolis in July 2022 compared with 2021,^[440]and in 2020, it rose 21 percent compared to the average of the previous five years.^[441]Violent crime was down for 2022 in every category except assaults. Carjackings, gunshots fired, gunshot wounds, and robberies decreased, and homicides were down 20 percent compared to the previous year.^[442]

In 2015, the city council passed a resolution makingfossil fuel divestmentcity policy,^[443]joining 17 cities worldwide in theCarbon Neutral Cities Alliance. Minneapolis'sclimate plancalls for an 80-percent reduction ingreenhouse gas emissionsby 2050.^[444]In 2021, the city council voted unanimously to abolish its required minimum number of parking spaces for new construction.^[445]Minneapolis has a separation ordinance that directs local law-enforcement officers not to "take any law enforcement action" for the sole purpose of findingundocumented immigrants, nor to ask an individual about his or her immigration status.^[446]

In 1834, volunteer missionariesGideon and Samuel Pond^[447]sought permission for their work from the US Indian agency at Fort Snelling.^[448]They taught new farming techniques and their Christian religion to ChiefCloud Manand his community on the east shore of Bde Maka Ska.^[275]That year, J. D. Stevens and the Ponds built an Indian mission near Lake Harriet, which was the first educational institution in the Minneapolis area.^[275]In the treaty of 1837, the US promised payment to the Dakota, but instead gave the monies to the missionaries earmarked for education, and in protest, fewer than 10 Dakota students attended.^[449]After more settlers moved to the area, ten school buildings served nearly 4,000 students by 1874. The district had more than one hundred schools when enrollment peaked at 90,000 students in 1933.^[450]

Minneapolis Public Schoolsserved 28,689K–12students as of October 2022,^[452]in more than fifty schools, divided between community andmagnet.^[453]As of 2023, enrollment was declining about 1.5 percent per year, and approximately 60 percent of school age children attended district schools.^[452]Many students enrolled in alternatives such as charter schools, of which the city has thirty as of 2023.^[454]By state law, charter schools are open to all students and are tuition-free.^[455]In 2022, about 1200 at-risk students attended district alternative schools that offered them better outcomes than traditional schools.^[456]

School district demographics were 41 percent White students, 35 percent Black, 14 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent each were Asian and Native American.^[457]English-language learnerswere about 17 percent^[457]in a district that spoke 100 languages at home.^[458]About 15 percent werespecial educationstudents.^[457]As of fall 2023, every public school student in the state receives one free breakfast and one free lunch each school day.^[459]In 2022, the district's graduation rate was 77 percent, an improvement of 3 percent over the previous year.^[460]

Headquartered in Minneapolis, theUniversity of MinnesotaTwin Cities campus enrolled more than 54,000 students in 2023–2024.^[461]College rankings in 2024 place the school in the range of 44th^[462]to 203rd for academics worldwide.^[463][464]QSfound a decline in rank over a decade.^[464]Shanghaifound excellence in ecology and library & information science.^[462]Among the 2,250 schoolsU.S. News & World Reportcompared in its 2024–2025 best global universities rankings, the University of Minnesota tied withEmory Universityat 63rd.^[465]The school has unusual autonomy that has existed in Minnesota since 1858, when the state constitution included the provision thatregentsare in control, independent of city government.^[466]Founded in 1851^[464]and closed in its first decade for lack of funding, theUniversity of Minnesotawas revived under theMorrill Act of 1862using land taken from the Dakota people.^[467][o]

Augsburg University,Minneapolis College of Art and Design, andNorth Central Universityare private four-year colleges; the first two offer master's programs.^[470]The public two-yearMinneapolis Community and Technical College^[471]and the privateDunwoody College of Technology^[472]provide career training and associate degrees, and the latter offers a bachelor's program.Saint Mary's University of Minnesotahas a Twin Cities campus for its graduate and professional programs.^[473]Opening a new Minneapolis site in 2024,Red Lake Nation Collegeis an accredited federally recognizedtribal collegesite that teachesOjibweculture.^[474]The large, principallyonline universitiesCapella University^[475]andWalden University^[476]are both headquartered in the city. The public four-yearMetropolitan State University^[477]and the private four-yearUniversity of St. Thomas^[478]are post-secondary institutions based elsewhere that have campuses in Minneapolis. The city has more than twenty-five licensed career schools.^[479]

As of March 2024, Minnesota Newspaper Association members who publish in Minneapolis includeInsight News,Finance & Commerce,Longfellow Nokomis Messenger,Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal,Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder,Minnesota Women's Press,North News,Northeaster,Southwest Connector,Star Tribune, andSt. Paul – Midway Como Frogtown Monitor.^[480]La Prensa de Minnesota,^[481]Vida y Sabor,^[482]andThe American Jewish World^[483]are published in the city.^[484]Other papers areSouthwest Voices,^[485]Streets.mn,^[486]Bring Me The News,^[487]Racket,^[488]MinnPost,^[489]andMinnesota Daily.^[490]

Media Talescalled Minnesota a "plentiful" source of nationaltrade magazines; companies in Minneapolis publishFoodservice NewsandFranchise Times.^[491]Some other magazines published in the city areAmerican Craft;^[492]business publicationsEnterprise Minnesota^[493]andTwin Cities Business;^[494]the literary journalRain Taxi;^[495]university student publicationsGreat River Review,^[496]Minnesota Journal of International Law,^[497]andMinnesota Law Review;^[498]and professional magazinesArchitecture Minnesota,^[499]Bench & Bar,^[500]andMinnesota Medicine.^[501]

In 2023,Nielsenfound the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area to be the 15th-largestdesignated market areawhich is down from 14th in 2022.^[502]About 75 radio stations may be heard in the Minneapolis market, but of these, some may be heard only distantly.^[503]The Twin Cities have 1,742,530 TV homes.^[504]TV Guidelists 151 TV channels for Minneapolis.^[505]

The 2020 census found that the average commute to work for the Minneapolis population was 22 minutes.^[506]The most common means of transportation to work was driving alone (45 percent), the least common was bicycling (1.7 percent), and others were carpooling (6.5 percent), taking public transit (5.6 percent), and walking (4.8 percent).^[506]

A division of theMetropolitan Council,Metro Transitoperates public transportation in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.^[507]As of 2023, the system has twolight raillines, fivebus rapid transit(BRT) lines, and onecommuter railline.^[508]A fleet of 736 buses serves 10,745 bus stops.^[508]As of 2021, riders of Metro Transit system-wide were 55 percent persons of color.^[508]The system provided nearly 45 million rides in 2023, a sixteen-percent increase over the previous year.^[509]In 2023, bus service had returned to 90 percent of its ridership before the COVID-19 pandemic.^[509]

TheMetro Blue Linelight rail line connects theMall of AmericaandMinneapolis–Saint Paul International AirportinBloomingtonto downtown,^[510]and theGreen Linetravels from downtown through the University of Minnesota campus to downtownSaint Paul.^[511]ABlue Line extensionto the northwest suburbs is scheduled to be built and completed by 2030.^[512]AGreen Line extensionis planned to connect downtown with the southwestern suburbs.^[p]BRT lines are 25 percent faster than regular bus lines because riders pay before boarding, stops are limited, and sometimes they employ signal prioritization.^[514]The newest BRT line, the D Line, runs along one of Minnesota's most used bus lines, the 18-mile (29 km) route5, where a quarter of households do not have access to a car.^[514]The 40-mile (64 km)Northstar Commuter railruns fromBig Lake, Minnesota, to downtown Minneapolis. Commuter rides decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as of 2023, service cut back to four from twelve daily trips.^[515]

Hundreds of homeless people nightly sought shelter on Green Line trains until overnight service was cut back in 2019.^[516]Short more than a hundred police officers, in 2022, the Metro Council hired community groups to help police light rail stations; these non-profits can guide passengers to mental health services and shelters.^[517]In 2007, theInterstate 35W bridgeover the Mississippi, which was overloaded with 300 short tons (270,000 kg) of repair materials, collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. Thebridge was rebuiltin 14 months.^[518]

Evie Carshare, owned by Minneapolis and Saint Paul since 2022, is a fleet of 145 electric cars available for one-way trips in a 35-square-mile (91 km²) area of the Twin Cities.^[519]In warm weather,Limeand Veo have shared electric bikes and scooters for rent at sixty mobility hubs located on transit lines; riders may end their trip anywhere in the city.^[520]

Minneapolis has 16 miles (26 km) of on-street protected bikeways, 98 miles (158 km) of bike lanes, and 101 miles (163 km) of off-street bikeways and trails.^[521]Off-street facilities include theGrand Rounds National Scenic Byway,Midtown Greenway,Little Earth Trail,Hiawatha LRT Trail,Kenilworth Trail, andCedar Lake Trail.^[522]TheMinneapolis Skyway System, 9.5 miles (15.3 km) of enclosed pedestrian bridges calledskyways, links 80 city blocks downtown with access to second-floor restaurants, retailers, government, sports facilities, doctor's offices, and other businesses that are open on weekdays.^[523]Fifteen commercial passenger airlines serveMinneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport(MSP).^[524]MSP is the headquarters ofSun Country Airlines.^[525]After it merged withNorthwest Airlinesin 2009,Delta Air Linesflew 80 percent of the airport's traffic,^[526]and MSP was Delta's second-largest US hub.^[527]

Xcel Energysupplies electricity,^[528]andCenterPoint Energyprovides gas.^[528]The water supply is managed by fourwatersheddistricts that correspond with the Mississippi and three streams that are river tributaries.^[529]

The city has nineteenfire stations.^[530]Requests for non-emergency information or service requests can be made through Minneapolis311. The call center operates in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali, and offers 220 language options.^[531]Email, TTY, text, voice, and a mobile app can access the center.^[532]

The Minneapolis Department of Public Works is responsible for services including snow plowing, solid waste removal, traffic and parking, water treatment, transportation planning and maintenance, and fleet services for the city.^[533]Among its engineering functions, the department was increasing the capacity of a 4,200-foot (1,300 m)storm water tunnelsystem 80 feet (24 m) under Washington to Chicago Avenues and had completed 97 percent of the excavation phase and 41 percent of the lining phase as of August 2023.^[534]Designed for downtown's concrete landscape, the system will drain runoff into the Mississippi in case of a100-year storm.^[535]

Downtown Improvement District ambassadors, who are identified by their blue-and-green-yellow fluorescent jackets, daily patrol a 120-block area of downtown to greet and assist visitors, remove trash, monitor property, and call police when they are needed. The ambassador program is apublic-private partnershipthat is paid for by a special downtown tax district.^[536]

Hennepin County Medical Center, a publicteaching hospitalandLevel I trauma center,^[538]opened in 1887 as City Hospital.^[539]The city is also served byAbbott Northwestern Hospital,Children's Minnesota, and University of Minnesota and veterans medical centers.^[540]

Cardiac surgerywas developed at the University of Minnesota's Variety Club Heart Hospital.^[541]SurgeonF. John Lewisrepaired a child'scongenital heart defectsuccessfully in 1952.^[542]By 1957, more than 200 patients—most of whom were children—had survived open-heart surgery.^[543]Working with surgeonC. Walton Lillehei,Medtronicbegan to build portable and implantablecardiac pacemakersabout this time.^[544]

In 2022, opioid overdoses killed 231 people in Minneapolis.^[545]For the state in 2021, Black persons were three times and Native American persons were ten times more likely to die from an opioid overdose than White persons.^[546][q]The mayor's proposed 2024 budget added funds for the Turning Point treatment center, which provides care specifically for African Americans.^[548]TheRed Lake Band of Chippewais building a culturally sensitive treatment center for opioid and fentanyl addiction. Minneapolis transferred two city-owned properties to the Red Lake Nation for the facility.^[549][550]

The Mashkiki Waakaa'igan Pharmacy—funded by theFond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa—dispenses free prescription drugs and culturally sensitive care to members of any federally recognized tribes living in Hennepin and Ramsey counties, regardless of insurance status.^[551]

Minneapolis'ssister citiesare:^[552]

• List of tallest buildings in Minneapolis
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hennepin County, Minnesota
• USSMinneapolis, 4 ships (including 2 asMinneapolis–Saint Paul)

• Lindeke, Bill (February 24, 2015)."About that 'Miracle'".Twin Cities Daily Planet. Archived fromthe originalon February 25, 2015.
• Lowery, Wesley(June 10, 2020)."Why Minneapolis Was the Breaking Point".The Atlantic. Atlantic Monthly Group.

• Official website
• "Minneapolis Past"—documentary produced byTwin Cities Public Television.