Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Ask a 'sotan is an occasional series exploring the questions from curious Minnesotans about our state. Have a question about life in Minnesota? 

Ask a 'sotan received a question from Katherine Pekel about about Minnesota's diversity. 

Minnesota is home to about 5.6 million people, and while the state is quickly diversifying, 4 out of 5 Minnesotans (or 80 percent) identify as white and non-Hispanic.

Minnesota racial diversity: Top five self-identified groups

Within those broad categories, Minnesotans have lots of different ancestries, home countries and stories of arrival. Keep in mind though, about 15 percent of Minnesotans did not report their ancestry while others simply said "American."

A deeper look at the ancestry reported by Minnesotans who identify as white reveals the five most common ancestries are: German, Norwegian, Irish, Swedish and English.

Top five ancestries reported for white residents

Among those who identify as black, the five most common ancestries are: African-American or similar, Somali, African (no further specification), Ethiopian and Liberian.

Top five ancestries reported for black residents

The most common ancestries identified among the state's Asian population are Hmong, Indian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese.

Top five ancestries reported for Asian residents

For the Latino population, the most common ancestries reported are Mexican, Spanish, Ecuadorian, Salvadoran and Puerto Rican.

Top five common ancestries reported by Latino residents

And the most common ancestries reported for the state's indigenous population are Ojibwe and Dakota. Though the largest group who identify as Native or Indigenous do not specify their tribe.

Most common tribes reported for Indigenous/native residents

The data for race comes from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 population estimates. Ancestry and tribal data were tallied from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey.

For our numbers, those who identify as two or more races are shown in each group that they identify with. We choose to display that data to better reflect those who are multiracial. 

Nearly all of Minnesota's net population growth in the past decade has come from populations of color, and these populations are expected to drive future growth as well.

Why can't Minnesota voters bring an issue to the ballot?

How did George Hormel, grandfather of Spam, get to Minnesota?

Have a question about life in Minnesota? Submit your question here.

Social Issues

NewsPartners

Minnesota News

Ask a 'sotan

Matt Mikus

Author

Andi Egbert

A Minnesotan answers an audience question about the diversity of state's population.

Ask a 'sotan: How racially diverse is Minnesota?

Go Deeper.

Like this?