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3/24/2016 10:14:43 AM
SAINT PAUL - The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual population estimates for counties today, revealing which areas were seeing growth and loss across the United States and locally.
The estimates indicated Minnesota grew by 0.6% and the Twin Cities 7-county region[1] by 0.9% between July 1, 2014 and July 1, 2015. Minnesota added about 32,500 people in the latest year, with the most growth clustered in the counties that are home to and adjacent to Minneapolis and St. Paul. The Twin Cities region added nearly 26,300 people, and hit a major population milestone.
"For the first time in history, the Twin Cities 7-county region topped 3 million people in 2015," said Susan Brower, Minnesota State Demographer and director of the State Demographic Center.
Brower said the state's overall population growth has tilted more toward the Twin Cities metro in recent years, due to it being the gateway for international arrivals, and benefitting from more natural change (births minus deaths).
Births totaled nearly 69,900 statewide in 2015, with about 40,300 babies joining the 7-county metro, and 29,600 infants born in Minnesota's other 80 counties.
Minnesota experienced about 40,100 deaths in 2015, a number almost unchanged in the past three years. The 80 counties outside the metro experienced slightly more deaths than the 7-county metro did in 2015.
The five counties that added the most people in the latest year of data were Hennepin (about 11,100 people added), Ramsey (4,500), Dakota (2,500), Anoka (2,400), and Washington (2,300). As a percentage, seven counties grew by 1 percent or more in the latest year. These fastest-growing counties were Clay (1.7% growth), Scott (1.6%), Carver (1.4%), and Stearns, Pennington, Wright and Wadena (all 1.0%).
The Minnesota State Demographic Center and the Metropolitan Council will release the 2015 population estimates for townships, cities, counties, Economic Development Regions and the state in July. These state-mandated figures use Census Bureau data as an input, but are further refined by additional local data and reviewed by local government officials.
This summer the Demographic Center will also release updated population projections for counties, which will help leaders see how these population trends are likely to play out over the next several decades.
For more data, visit the Census Bureau Newsroom web page: www.census.gov/newsroom.html.
[1] The 7-county Twin Cities region comprises Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties. However, the official Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metropolitan statistical area recognized by the Census Bureau consists of 16 counties.
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Contact: Susan Brower
State Demographer
Susan.Brower@state.mn.us
651-201-2472
