Nearly half a million immigrants call Minnesota home, a population that includes citizens and non-citizens, students and workers, and refugees who fled their home countries. Minnesota has proportionally fewer immigrants compared to the nation as a whole, but we have long been a state shaped by immigration. In 2018, about nine percent of Minnesotans were foreign-born, but that percentage was as high as 37 percent in the late 1800s. Immigration will continue to shape our communities for generations to come. Today, 18 percent of children in Minnesota is either a child of an immigrant or were themselves born in a different country, nearly double the 10 percent of children in Minnesota who fit that profile in 2000.
Fast facts
472,000 foreign-born Minnesotans
Minnesota’s largest immigrant groups were born in Mexico, Somalia, and India. The most common languages spoken in Minnesota, other than English, include Spanish, Cushite-Beja-Somali, and Hmong.
Three-quarters of immigrants are working
Minnesota's immigrants at a glance
Explore data by immigrant group
Immigrant group Sort descending | Population |
---|---|
All immigrants | 459,692 |
Burmese immigrants | 11,455 |
Canadian immigrants | 12,046 |
Chinese immigrants | 18,562 |
Ethiopian immigrants | 18,756 |
Filipino immigrants | 10,842 |
German immigrants | 5,946 |
Guatemalan immigrants | 6,870 |
Hmong immigrants | 29,034 |
Indian immigrants | 29,505 |
Kenyan immigrants | 8,526 |
Korean immigrants | 14,371 |
Laotian immigrants | 6,802 |
Liberian immigrants | 12,368 |
Mexican immigrants | 65,107 |
Nigerian immigrants | 6,511 |
Russian immigrants | 8,100 |
Salvadoran immigrants | 7,702 |
Somali immigrants | 39,028 |
Vietnamese immigrants | 17,308 |