Last week, Mayor Jacob Frey announced a goal to fund $50 million on housing projects in Minneapolis as part of efforts to address an affordable housing crisis in a city “growing faster that it has since 1950.”
Look no further than trying to rent an apartment or buy a house these days to see that yes, the city’s burgeoning population is putting a crunch on some of its resources. But that fast?
Yep. And then some.
Between 1940 and 1950, Minneapolis added more than 29,000 people, an increase of 6 percent, according to U.S. Census data. By 2020, the Metropolitan Council projects that Minneapolis will have added about 40,000 residents since 2010, an increase of more than 10 percent.
For the last 70 years, though, growth has been the exception rather than the rule for Minneapolis’ population. Here’s a look at the bumps and dips in the city’s population history.
Boom and decline
Minneapolis first incorporated as a city in 1867, but it didn’t show up on the Census Bureau’s list of urban places until 1880.
That year, the city listed a population of 46,887, making it the U.S.’ 38th largest city.