Which of the thousands of charts on Minnesota Compass did users visit most in 2025? We crunched the numbers to bring you our greatest hits. Over the next several weeks, Wilder Research staff will break down our most popular bar charts, trend lines, maps, rankings, and tables—covering immigration, the workforce, and more—to reveal why these visuals are so important. Will your favorite chart make the list?
A dive into Minnesota's diverse communities using bar charts
This year, the three most-viewed bar charts highlight trends in population, poverty, and employment across Minnesota’s cultural communities. Together, they paint a picture of a state with a diverse population of young people, with poverty rates that vary widely across Hispanic and Latino communities, and consistently strong workforce participation across the same communities.
These charts focus on Minnesotans by age and nativity, poverty rates across Minnesota’s largest Hispanic and Latino cultural communities, and levels of employment across those same Hispanic and Latino communities. Here’s the top headline from each bar chart:
One in five Minnesota children has an immigrant parent
The most popular bar chart on the Minnesota Compass website illustrates population by age and nativity in Minnesota. It shows how Minnesota’s demographic landscape is evolving, with 20% of Minnesotans under age 20 being native-born children of immigrants (represented in yellow). While foreign-born Minnesotans have been a part of the state's history, this bar chart shows that over the next few decades, our workforce will reflect a growing share of the population from immigrant backgrounds.
One in six Hispanic and Latino Minnesotans lives below poverty
The second most popular bar graph comes from our Insights article, "The importance of data disaggregation: Minnesota's Hispanic and Latino communities." It shows poverty rates across select Hispanic and Latino cultural communities in Minnesota. At the time that this article was published, about one in six Hispanic and Latino Minnesotans were in poverty (17%; the percentage is now 14%), though this varied by cultural community. A smaller share of Salvadoran Minnesotans were living below poverty (7%), while larger shares of Puerto Rican and Guatemalan Minnesotans had incomes below the poverty line (17%).
Employment is high across Hispanic and Latino cultural communities in Minnesota
The final bar chart was also published in "The importance of data disaggregation: Minnesota's Hispanic and Latino communities." It shows the proportion of adults who are working across several Hispanic and Latino cultural communities in Minnesota. Employment rates are high across all groups, ranging from 72% to 80%. Salvadoran adults have the highest proportion of adults working (80%), while Guatemalan and Cuban adults have the lowest (both at 72%).
Interpreting the story behind these bar charts
These bar graphs demonstrate the increasing diversity of the population in Minnesota. As more children of immigrant parents come of age, this may contribute to the state’s long-term demographic stability and help sustain community networks that support both new arrivals and long-established families.
