Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington, MN–WI Metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
Minneapolis (top) and Saint Paul (bottom)
Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan statistical area (MSA) (in red)
Country	United States
States	Minnesota and Wisconsin
Principal cities	Minneapolis, Saint Paul
Area
• Urban	1,021.8 sq mi (2,646 km2)
• Metro	8,120 sq mi (21,000 km2)
Highest elevation	1,376 ft (419 m)
Lowest elevation	660 ft (200 m)
Population  (2020[1])
• Urban	2,650,890 (16th)
• Urban density	2,594.3/sq mi (1,001.7/km2)
• MSA	3,690,261 (16th)
• CSA	4,078,788 (16th)
	MSA/CSA: 2020 Urban: 2018
GDP [2]
• MSA	$323.973 billion (2022)
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code(s)	320, 507, 612, 651, 715/534, 763, 952

Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is commonly known as the Twin Cities after the area's two largest cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Minnesotans often refer to the two together (or the seven-county metro area collectively) simply as "the cities".^[3][4] The area is Minnesota's economic, cultural, and political center.

Minneapolis and Saint Paul are independent municipalities with defined borders. Minneapolis sits mostly on the west side of the Mississippi River on lake-covered terrain. Although most of the city is residential neighborhoods, it has a business-dominated downtown area with some historic industrial areas, the Mill District and the North Loop area. Saint Paul, which sits mostly on the east side of the river, has a smaller business district, many tree-lined neighborhoods, and a large collection of late-Victorian architecture. Both cities, and the surrounding smaller cities, feature lakes, hills, and creeks.

Originally inhabited by the Ojibwe and Dakota people, the cities were settled by various Europeans. Minneapolis was strongly influenced by early Scandinavian and Lutheran settlers, while Saint Paul was settled predominantly by the French, the Irish, and German Catholics. Both urban areas are home to new immigrant communities, including Mexicans, Somalis, Hmong, Indians, Oromo, Vietnamese, Cameroonians, and Liberians.

"Twin Cities" is sometimes used to refer to the seven-county region governed by the Metropolitan Council regional governmental agency and planning organization. The United States Office of Management and Budget officially designates 15 counties as the "Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington MN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area". It is the 16th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. and third-largest metropolitan area in the Midwest, with a population of 3,690,261 at the 2020 census. The larger 21-county Minneapolis–St. Paul MN–WI Combined Statistical Area, the nation's 16th-largest combined statistical area, had a population of 4,078,788 at the 2020 census.

History

European settlement

The first European settlement in the region was near what is now the town of Stillwater, Minnesota, about 20 miles (30 km) from downtown Saint Paul and on the western bank of the St. Croix River, which forms the border of central Minnesota and Wisconsin. Another settlement that fueled early interest in the area was the outpost at Fort Snelling, which was constructed from 1820 to 1825 at the confluence of the Minnesota River and the Mississippi River.^[5]

The Fort Snelling military reservation bordered both sides of the river up to Saint Anthony Falls. The town of Saint Anthony grew just outside the reservation on the river's east side. For several years, the only European resident to live on the west bank of the river was Colonel John H. Stevens, who operated a ferry service across the river. When the military reservation was reduced in size, settlers quickly moved to the land, creating the new village of Minneapolis. The town grew, with Minneapolis and Saint Anthony eventually merging.^[6] On the eastern side of the Mississippi, a few villages such as Pig's Eye and Lambert's Landing grew to become Saint Paul.^[7]

Geography

Natural geography played a role in the two cities' settlement and development. The Mississippi River Valley in the area is defined by a series of stone bluffs that line the river. Saint Paul grew up around Lambert's Landing, the last place to unload boats coming upriver at an easily accessible point, seven miles (11 km) downstream from Saint Anthony Falls, the geographic feature that, due to the value of its immense water power for industry, defined Minneapolis's location and its prominence as the Mill City. The falls can be seen from the Mill City Museum, housed in the former Washburn "A" Mill, which was among the world's largest mills in its time. The phrase "St. Paul is the last city of the East, Minneapolis the first city of the West" alludes to the historical difference.^[8]

Farming

The state's oldest farms are in Washington County. The county borders the St. Croix River and Wisconsin on the eastern side of the metropolitan area. Joseph Haskell was Minnesota's first white farmer, harvesting the first crops in the state in 1840 on what is now part of Afton Township on Trading Post Trail.^[9]

Grand Excursion

The Grand Excursion, a trip into the Upper Midwest sponsored by the Rock Island Railroad, brought more than a thousand curious travelers into the area by rail and steamboat in 1854. In 1855, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published The Song of Hiawatha, an epic poem based on the Ojibwe legends of Hiawatha. A number of natural area landmarks appear in the story, including Lake Minnetonka and Minnehaha Falls. Tourists inspired by the coverage of the Grand Excursion in eastern newspapers and those who read The Song of Hiawatha flocked to the area in the following decades.

Rail transport

At one time, the region also had numerous passenger rail services, including both interurban streetcar systems and interstate rail. Due to the river's width at points farther south, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area was briefly one of the few places where the Mississippi could be crossed by railroad. Much commercial rail traffic also ran through the area, often carrying grain to be processed at Minneapolis mills or delivering other goods to Saint Paul to be transported along the Mississippi. Saint Paul was long at the head of navigation on the river, until a lock and dam facility was added upriver in Minneapolis.

Passenger travel hit its peak in 1888, with nearly eight million traversing to and from Saint Paul Union Depot.^{[citation needed]} This amounted to approximately 150 trains daily. Soon, other rail crossings were built farther south and travel through the region began to decline. In an effort by the rail companies to combat the rise of the automobile, some of the earliest streamliners ran from Chicago to Minneapolis/Saint Paul and eventually served distant points in the Pacific Northwest. Today, the only vestige of this interstate service is Amtrak's Seattle/Portland to Chicago Empire Builder route, running once daily in each direction. It is named after James J. Hill, a railroad tycoon who settled on Summit Avenue in Saint Paul in what is now known as the James J. Hill House.

Socioeconomic history

Like many Northern cities that grew up with the Industrial Revolution, Minneapolis and St. Paul experienced shifts in their economic base as heavy industry declined, especially in the 1960s and 1970s. With the economic decline of those decades came population decline in the central city areas, white flight to suburbs,^[10] and, in the summer of 1967, race riots on Minneapolis's North Side.^[11] But by the 1980s and 1990s, Minneapolis and Saint Paul were often cited as former Rust Belt cities that had made successful transitions to service, high-technology, finance, and information economies.^[12]

In May and June 2020, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area became a focus of international attention after MPD officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for almost ten minutes. The murder sparked local, nationwide and international protests against racism and police brutality, bringing considerable attention to the MPD.^[13] Minneapolis–Saint Paul was the site of the second-costliest act of civil disobedience in U.S. history, after the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.^[14] Local protests and riots caused an estimated $550 million in damages^[15] and affected around 1,600 businesses.^[16]

Rivalry

Minneapolis and Saint Paul have competed since they were founded, resulting in some duplication of effort.^[17] After Saint Paul completed its elaborate cathedral in 1915, Minneapolis followed up with the equally ornate Basilica of St. Mary in 1926. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the rivalry became so intense that an architect practicing in one city was often refused business in the other. The 1890 United States Census even led to the two cities arresting and/or kidnapping each other's census takers, in an attempt to keep each city from outgrowing the other.^[18][19][20]

The rivalry occasionally erupted into inter-city violence, as at a 1929 game between the Minneapolis Millers and the St. Paul Saints, both baseball teams of the American Association.^[21] In the 1950s, both cities competed for a major league baseball franchise (which resulted in two rival stadiums being built), and there was a brief period in the mid-1960s when the two cities could not agree on a common calendar for daylight saving time, resulting in a few weeks when people in Minneapolis were one hour "behind" those in Saint Paul.^[22]

The cities' mutual antagonism was largely healed by the end of the 1960s, aided by the simultaneous arrival in 1961 of the Minnesota Twins of the American League and the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, both of which identified themselves with the state as a whole (the former explicitly named for both Twin Cities) rather than either city (like the earlier Minneapolis Lakers). Since 1961, it has been common practice for any major sports team based in the Twin Cities to be named for Minnesota as a whole. In terms of development, the two cities remain distinct in their progress, with Minneapolis absorbing new and avant-garde architecture while Saint Paul continues to carefully integrate new buildings into the context of classical and Victorian styles.^[17]

Geology

Like much of Minnesota, the Twin Cities area was shaped by water and ice over millions of years. The area's land sits atop thick layers of sandstone and limestone laid down as seas encroached upon and receded from the region. Erosion caused natural caves to develop, which were expanded into mines when white settlers came to the area. During Prohibition, at least one speakeasy was built into these hidden spaces—eventually refurbished as Saint Paul's Wabasha Street Caves.

Lakes across the area were formed and altered by the movement of glaciers. This left many bodies of water in the region, some with unusual shapes. For example, Lake Minnetonka, toward the western side of the Twin Cities, consists of a complex arrangement of channels and large bays. Elevations in the area range from 1,376 feet (419 m) above sea level in the northwest metro to 666 feet (203 m) at the edge of the Mississippi River in the southeast.

Because it is relatively easy to dig through limestone and there are many natural and manmade open spaces, it has often been proposed that the area should consider building subways for public transportation. That could be less expensive in the Twin Cities than in many other places, but would still be much more expensive than surface projects.

Climate

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: 2014 (January 2023)

Owing to their northerly latitude and inland location, the Twin Cities experience the coldest climate of any major metropolitan area in the United States.^[23] But due to their southern location in the state and the urban heat island, the Twin Cities are among Minnesota's warmest places.^[24] The average annual temperature recorded at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport is 45.4 °F (7.4 °C); 3.5 °F (1.9 °C) colder than Winona, Minnesota, and 8.8 °F (4.9 °C) warmer than Roseau, Minnesota.^[25] Monthly average daily high temperatures range from 21.9 °F (−5.6 °C) in January to 83.3 °F (28.5 °C) in July; the average daily minimum temperatures for those months are 4.3 °F (−15.4 °C) and 63.0 °F (17.2 °C) respectively.^[26]

Minimum temperatures of 0 °F (−18 °C) or lower are seen on an average of 29.7 days per year, and 76.2 days do not have a maximum temperature exceeding the freezing point. Temperatures above 90 °F (32 °C) occur an average of 15 times per year. High temperatures above 100 °F (38 °C) have been common in recent years; the last was on July 6, 2012. The lowest temperature ever reported at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport was −34 °F (−37 °C) on January 22, 1936; the highest, 108 °F (42 °C), was reported on July 14 of the same year.^[27] Early settlement records at Fort Snelling show temperatures as low as −42 °F (−41 °C). Recent records include −40 °F (−40 °C) at Vadnais Lake on February 2, 1996 (National Climatic Data Center)

Precipitation averages 29.41 inches (74.7 cm) per year, and is most plentiful in June (4.34 inches (11.0 cm)) and least so in February (0.79 inches (2.0 cm)). The greatest one-day rainfall amount was 9.15 inches (23.2 cm), reported on July 23, 1987. The cities' record for lowest annual precipitation was set in 1910, when 11.54 inches (29.3 cm) fell throughout the year; coincidentally, the opposite record of 40.15 inches (1,020 mm) was set the next year.^[28] At an annual average of 56.3 inches (1,430 mm), snowfall is generally abundant.^[29]

The Twin Cities area takes the brunt of many types of extreme weather, including high-speed straight-line winds, tornadoes, flash floods, drought, heat, bitter cold, and blizzards. The costliest weather disaster in Twin Cities history was a derecho event on May 15, 1998. Hail and wind damage exceeded $950 million, much of it in the Twin Cities.^[30] Other memorable Twin Cities weather-related events include the tornado outbreak on May 6, 1965, the Armistice Day Blizzard on November 11, 1940, and the Halloween Blizzard of 1991. In January 2019, Minnesota experienced its coldest temperatures since 1996, when a polar vortex dropped temperatures as low as −56 °F (−49 °C) in Cotton, Minnesota, with wind-chill temperatures lower than −60 °F (−51 °C) in much of the state. These temperatures are colder than those found on the surface of Mars. (See: Department of Natural Resources - Cold Outbreak: January 27-31, 2019)

A normal growing season in the metro extends from late April or early May through the month of October.^[31] The USDA places the area in the 4a plant hardiness zone.^[32]

Communities

Metropolitan Statistical Area

The Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington MN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area, or Twin Cities, includes 15 counties, of which 13 are in Minnesota and two in Wisconsin. The Minnesota portion accounts for almost two-thirds of Minnesota's population.

Note: Counties that are bolded are under jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Council. Counties that are italicized were added to the metropolitan area when the Office of Management and Budget revised its delineations of metropolitan statistical areas in 2013.^[33][34] Sibley County was included in the metropolitan statistical area from 2013 to September 2018.^[35]

Combined Statistical Area

The Minneapolis–St. Paul, MN–WI Combined Statistical Area is made up of 19 counties in Minnesota and two counties in Wisconsin. The statistical area includes two metropolitan areas and four micropolitan areas. As of the 2010 census, the CSA had a population of 3,682,928 (though a July 1, 2012 estimate placed it at 3,691,918). In 2013, the Owatonna Micropolitan Statistical Area was added.^[36]