Craig Helmstetter
Meet Craig Helmstetter
Craig Helmstetter is the founding managing partner of the APM Research Lab, MPR | APM’s data journalism hub. He is a frequent contributor to MPR News on everything from public health and demographics to elections and public opinion.
Since founding the APM Research Lab in 2017, the Lab has conducted analyses that have been cited thousands of times in local, state, national and international news outlets, as well as established partnerships with universities and a variety of newsroom collaborations.
Before joining MPR | APM, Craig led a research unit at St. Paul's Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, worked as an evaluator with Minnesota's Legislative Auditor's Office and as a project coordinator at a survey research center.
After graduating from high school in Hastings and getting a bachelor’s degree at Luther College, Craig earned a master's degree in community and regional planning and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Oregon.
Craig loves skiing, running and biking. Theodore Wirth Park, which offers all these and more, is his favorite local haunt.
You can find Craig Helmstetter on LinkedIn, Threads and Bluesky.
Recent Contributions
- On second look, nation favors Wisconsin slightly more than Minnesota or Iowa. And much more than California
- How abnormal are the revisions in this month’s jobs report?
- Little evidence of a COVID-19 ‘summer surge’ so far in Minnesota
- Federal job watch: May sees single largest monthly loss so far this year
- The great Upper Midwest standoff: Nation thinks Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are all ‘equally good’
- Federal job watch: So far more of a ‘He-cession’ than a ‘She-cession’
- Poll: Americans wary about the president taking unconventional actions
- Federal jobs watch: Just-released February jobs report shows few losses in Minnesota
- Poll: Minnesotans think race, gender impact individual success
- Minnesota homeschooling leaped during COVID and counts continue to climb