Minnesota

Minnesota
State
Flag Seal
Nicknames:  Mni Sóta Makoce (Land where the waters reflect the skies);[1] Land of 10,000 Lakes; North Star State; Gopher State
Motto:  L'Étoile du Nord (French: The Star of the North)[2]
Anthem: "Hail! Minnesota"
Map of the United States with Minnesota highlighted
Country	United States
Before statehood	Minnesota Territory
Admitted to the Union	May 11, 1858 (32nd State in the Union)
Capital	Saint Paul
Largest city	Minneapolis
Largest county or equivalent	Hennepin
Largest metro and urban areas	Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Government
• Governor	Tim Walz (DFL)
• Lieutenant governor	Peggy Flanagan (DFL)
Legislature	Legislature
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Judiciary	Minnesota Supreme Court
U.S. senators	Amy Klobuchar (DFL) Tina Smith (DFL)
U.S. House delegation	4 Democrats 4 Republicans (list)
Area
• Total	86,935.83 sq mi (225,163 km2)
• Land	79,626.74 sq mi (206,232 km2)
• Water	7,309.09 sq mi (18,930 km2)  8.40%
• Rank	12th
Dimensions
• Length	about 400 mi (640 km)
• Width	200–350 mi (320–560 km)
Elevation	1,200 ft (370 m)
Highest elevation (Eagle Mountain[3][a])	2,301 ft (701 m)
Lowest elevation (Lake Superior[3][a][4])	602 ft (183 m)
Population  (2023)
• Total	5,737,915[5]
• Rank	22nd
• Density	68.9/sq mi (26.6/km2)
• Rank	36th (2020 census)
• Median household income	$77,720[6]
• Income rank	13th
Demonym	Minnesotan
Language
• Official language	none
• Spoken language	English 88.9% Spanish Somali Hmong[7]
Time zone	UTC– 06:00 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC– 05:00 (CDT)
USPS abbreviation	MN
ISO 3166 code	US-MN
Traditional abbreviation	Minn.
Latitude	43° 30′ N to 49° 23′ N
Longitude	89° 29′ W to 97° 14′ W
Website	mn.gov

State symbols of Minnesota

List of state symbols
Living insignia
Bird	Common loon
Butterfly	Monarch
Fish	Walleye
Flower	Pink-and-white lady's slipper
Mushroom	Common morel (Morchella esculenta)
Tree	Norway pine[8] (Pinus resinosa)
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Milk
Food	Fruit: Honeycrisp apple Muffin: Blueberry Mushroom: Morel
Gemstone	Lake Superior agate
Other	Photograph: Grace
State quarter
Released in 2005
Lists of United States state symbols

Minnesota (/ˌmɪnəˈsoʊtə/ ^ⓘ MIN-ə-SOH-tə) is a state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the south, and North Dakota and South Dakota to the west. It is the 12th-largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd-most populous, with around 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes"; it has 14,420 bodies of fresh water covering at least ten acres each.^[9] Roughly a third of the state is forested. Much of the remainder is prairie and farmland. More than 60% of Minnesotans (about 3.8 million) live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, known as the "Twin Cities", which is Minnesota's main political, economic, and cultural hub^[10] and the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. Other minor metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas include Duluth, Mankato, Moorhead, Rochester, and St. Cloud.^[11]

Minnesota, which gets its name from the Dakota language, has been inhabited by various Native Americans since the Woodland period of the 11th century BCE. Between roughly 200 and 500 CE, two areas of the indigenous Hopewell tradition emerged: the Laurel complex in the north, and Trempealeau Hopewell in the Mississippi River Valley in the south. The Upper Mississippian culture, consisting of the Oneota people and other Siouan speakers, emerged around 1000 CE and lasted through the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. French explorers and missionaries were the earliest Europeans to enter the region, encountering the Dakota, Ojibwe, and various Anishinaabe tribes. Much of what is now Minnesota formed part of the vast French holding of Louisiana, which the United States purchased in 1803. After several territorial reorganizations, the Minnesota Territory was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state in 1858. Minnesota's official motto, L'Étoile du Nord ("The Star of the North") is the only state motto in French.^[2] This phrase was adopted shortly after statehood and reflects both the state's early French explorers and its position as the northernmost state in the contiguous U.S.

As part of the American frontier, Minnesota attracted settlers and homesteaders from across the country. Its growth was initially based on timber, agriculture, and railroad construction. Into the early 20th century, European immigrants arrived in significant numbers, particularly from Scandinavia, Germany, and Central Europe. Many were linked to the failed revolutions of 1848, which partly influenced the state's development as a center of labor and social activism.^[12] Minnesota's rapid industrialization and urbanization precipitated major social, economic, and political changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the state was at the forefront of labor rights, women's suffrage, and political reform.^[13] Consequently, Minnesota is relatively unique among Midwestern states in being a reliable base for the Democratic Party, having voted for every Democratic presidential nominee since 1976, longer than any other U.S. state.^[14]

Since the late 20th century, Minnesota's economy has diversified away from traditional industries such as agriculture and resource extraction to services, finance, and health care. Minnesota is home to 11 federally recognized Native American reservations (seven Ojibwe, four Dakota), and its culture, demographics, and religious landscape reflect Scandinavian and German influence. This heritage continues to affect the state's racial demographics, making it one of the country's least diverse states,^[15] but in recent decades, Minnesota has become more multicultural, due to both larger domestic migration and immigration from Latin America, Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the Middle East. The state has the nation's largest population of Somali Americans and second-largest Hmong community.^[16] Minnesota's standard of living and level of education are among the highest in the U.S.,^[17] and it is ranked among the best states in metrics such as employment, median income, safety, and governance.^[18]

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