Biggest Cities in Minnesota

Minnesota's population is dominated by the Twin Cities metro — Minneapolis and Saint Paul together with their suburbs contain 60%+ of Minnesota's population.

Minneapolis — 430,000 (metro: 3.7 million)
Minnesota's largest city and economic engine — Minneapolis is built on the west bank of the Mississippi River at the Falls of Saint Anthony (the only natural waterfall on the entire Mississippi River — now dammed but historically the power source for flour milling). Minneapolis was the flour milling capital of the world from 1880 to 1930 (Pillsbury and General Mills emerged from Minneapolis flour mills — the Gold Medal Flour sign on the Washburn-Crosby Mill's ruins is an icon). Today the city is defined by the medical device cluster, the retail headquarters (Target, Best Buy), the arts (Walker Art Center, Guthrie Theater, First Avenue), and the park system (the Minneapolis Parks system is consistently ranked the finest urban park system in the US).

Saint Paul — 310,000
Minnesota's capital — Saint Paul is more conservative and culturally distinct from Minneapolis than its proximity suggests. The Landmark Center (a Federal Building, 1902 — scene of gangster-era trials in the 1930s), the Minnesota State Capitol (Cass Gilbert's 1905 masterwork — the largest self-supported dome in the US), the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul (inspired by the Roman Pantheon) define Saint Paul's civic character. The Grand Avenue shopping and restaurant corridor and the Summit Avenue Victorian mansions (F. Scott Fitzgerald grew up on Summit Avenue) are its residential charms.

Rochester — 125,000
Mayo Clinic's city — Rochester's economy, culture, and even its architecture are shaped entirely by the Mayo Clinic (the world's #1 hospital by multiple rankings). The IBM Rochester site (which developed the AS/400 computer) and the Mayo-IBM partnership in health informatics make Rochester a significant technology city. The Peace Plaza and the Mayo Civic Center host the world-class healthcare system's public facilities.

Duluth — 90,000
On the western tip of Lake Superior — Duluth's port (connected to the Atlantic by the St. Lawrence Seaway) handles more grain and iron ore tonnage than any other freshwater port in the world. The Aerial Lift Bridge, Canal Park, the Great Lakes Aquarium, and the gateway to the North Shore give Duluth more visitor significance than its size suggests. Bob Dylan was born here.