Why Minneapolis Owns:

Abundantly rich in water, the city has twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi riverfront, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway.

Minneapolis was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber, and today is the primary business center between Chicago, Illinois, and Seattle, Washington

America's most literate city

The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and through private and corporate philanthropy

Beginning in the 1990s, a large Latino population arrived, along with refugees from Africa, especially from Somalia.

Minneapolis continues its heritage of welcoming newcomers. The metropolitan area is an immigrant gateway with a 127% increase in foreign-born residents between 1990 and 2000.

Compared to the U.S. national average in 2005, the city has fewer white, Hispanic, senior, and unemployed people, while it has more people aged over 18 and more with a college degree.

Minneapolis has the fourth highest percent of people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, with 12.5%

large young population and low unemployment.

The standard of living is on the rise, with incomes among the highest in the Midwest

Five Fortune 500 headquarters are in Minneapolis proper: Target Corporation, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Availability of Wi-Fi, transportation solutions, medical trials, university research and development expenditures, advanced degrees held by the work force, and energy conservation are so far above the national average that in 2005, Popular Science named Minneapolis the "Top Tech City" in the U.S.

The Twin Cities ranked the country's second best city in a 2006 Kiplinger's poll of Smart Places to Live and Minneapolis was one of the Seven Cool Cities for young professionals.

The region is second only to New York City in live theater per capita

Tom Waits released two songs about the city, Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis (Blue Valentine 1978) and 9th & Hennepin (Rain Dogs 1985)

The city has garnered notice for rap and hip hop and its spoken word community.

The Minneapolis park system has been called the best-designed, best-financed and best-maintained in America.

The state of Minnesota has the nation's highest number of bicyclists, sport fishermen, and snow skiers per capita.

Forbes identified Minneapolis the world's fifth cleanest city. (the WORLD!)

More than 40% of adults in Minneapolis-St. Paul give time to volunteer work, the highest percent in the U.S.

Minneapolis has five hospitals, three ranked among America's best by U.S. News & World Report

In 2000, 2.3 million theater tickets were sold in the region.

There are more theatre seats per capita than in any other American city, besides New York City.

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen grew up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.





thats why all you californians should come live here, because i miss you all and we should all live together and be one big happy family. or at least visit. i love you all :)