Extreme heat warning in effect through Sunday

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

Minnesota is among the top four states in the country where the Black population has grown the fastest since 2010.

 by the Pew Research Center, Minnesota’s Black population grew by 60 percent — about 197,000 people.

The Pew Research Center compared microdata from the Census Bureau’s 2010 and 2023 American Community Survey, provided through IPUMS from the University of Minnesota, that showed the Black population in the United States reached a new high of 48.3 million people nationwide in 2023.

“Black population” is defined as all people who self-identify as Black or African American, including Black people who are multi-racial and Hispanic.

Utah had the fastest growth in Black population at 89 percent, with Arizona and Nevada's population increasing 60 percent like Minnesota.

States with large existing Black populations like Texas, Florida and Georgia had the largest numeric increases in Black residents overall.

In Minnesota, much of the increase in Black population was due to births and immigration, according to Susan Brower, the Minnesota state demographer. Her office helps produce population estimates and analyze the impact of demographic trends.

State researchers estimate about 103,000 Black babies were born between 2010 to 2023. Brower said Census data shows Minnesota gained another 79,000 Black residents born outside of the U.S. in that period.

“What’s unique about Minnesota’s trend with respect to Black or African American residents is that it’s really been fueled by international immigration in a way that many states haven’t seen, particularly in the South where the majority are U.S.-born African Americans who are descendants of slavery,” said Brower.

Immigration has driven growth in Minnesota’s Black population since the 1990s, according to Brower. She shared data suggesting young adults and young families have migrated to Minnesota at higher rates than other age groups since 2000. Census data shows many immigrants report coming from Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria and Liberia.

Immigrants make up increasing share of Minnesota’s overall workforce

Brower said researchers don’t have the level of detail needed to know if Black people moved to Minnesota from other states, and where from, but Minnesota did generally see gains from other states between 2010 and 2023. She said Minnesota’s biggest “trading partners for people” of any race are neighboring states and the country’s largest states like California, Texas and Florida.

She said this has been an important source of growth with the white, non-Hispanic population in Minnesota aging and having fewer kids.

“All of the growth that the state experienced in the last decade is attributable to populations of color. And even, kind of more specifically, the Black or African American population in Minnesota has grown the fastest,” said Brower.

“Population growth and economic growth are really closely tied,” added Brower. “When you have a slow-growing population or a slow-growing workforce, it's really very, very hard to keep the economy going. And so economies that have robust population growth really tend to do much better and to have higher levels of growth.”

She said knowing detailed demographic information helps policymakers find solutions for diverse groups of people. Governments, nonprofits, philanthropic groups and private businesses all rely on similar Census data.

However, despite their population growth in Minnesota, Black people are far from overtaking the state. 

While 14.4 percent of the country self-identify as Black, Black people make up just 9.3 percent of Minnesota.

“We just started at a point where we were so very white in the 1960s and while we’ve become more diverse over time as a state, and we’re on kind of the same trajectory as the U.S., we really started at a much lower point in terms of overall diversity and we're still there today,” said Brower.

Minnesota News

Social Issues

Conversations around race and racial justice

NewsPartners

Homepage

Feven Gerezgiher

Author

The Pew Research Center reports Minnesota’s Black population grew by 60 percent — about 197,000 people.

Report: Minnesota among states where Black population grew fastest since 2010

Go Deeper.

Like this?