Annual Population Estimates
Informing decisions about local resource needs
Final 2022 population estimates now available
Each year, the Metropolitan Council releases its population and household estimates for use in various state aid programs. Estimates are for April 1 of the previous year (for example, estimates for April 1, 2021 were developed in 2022). The final set of estimates for the region as of April 1, 2022 were certified on July 12, 2023.
The 2022 estimates use the 2020 Census as a baseline. Results from the 2020 Census can be found on our Census webpage.
Please note: Each year, we update our data and refine our methods. We do not recommend taking the difference between annual population estimates datasets to calculate growth over a specific time period. Instead, we recommend examining growth since the 2020 Census.
How we calculated 2022 Population Estimates
The full methodology report is available below under 'Methods'.
Small area estimates
We also calculate estimates for small areas like census tracts, block groups, and Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZs), which provide more geographically precise and timely estimates than is available from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Small area estimates for 2022 will be available in summer 2023.