Is Minneapolis within 100 miles of Canada?

1. Closest practical measurements: flight and road figures point well past 100 miles

A distance tool that converts place names into coordinates estimates the shortest flight distance between Minneapolis (MSP) and a location labeled “Canadian‑Border‑Rd” at about 227.89 miles (366.75 km), which corresponds to roughly a 55‑minute flight time — already more than double the 100‑mile threshold ^[1]. Road‑trip and routing services that calculate driving distance to a named “Border” similarly give figures in the mid‑hundreds: Rome2Rio reports a driving distance from Minneapolis to a Border, MN endpoint of about 313.8 miles ^[2], again far above 100 miles. Those two distinct measurement methods (airline‑style great‑circle and practical driving routes) both place Minneapolis a few hundred miles from the nearest referenced border points ^{[1] [2]}.

2. Why different sources report different numbers — endpoints matter

Published distances diverge because the phrase “Canada” can mean many endpoints (Toronto, Winnipeg, the nearest border crossing, or a generic Canada centroid) and because calculators use either straight‑line (great‑circle) distances or driving routes; for example, Rome2Rio lists a Minneapolis↔Canada distance figure of 409 miles in one summary while Travelmath gives a straight‑line flight distance to Toronto around 689 miles and driving distance around 931 miles — reflecting different target cities and methods ^{[3] [4] [5]}. Travel aggregator pages that try to summarize “Minnesota to Canada” or “Minneapolis to Canada” sometimes conflate state‑to‑country centroid measures or routes to major Canadian cities rather than the nearest border crossing, creating apparent inconsistency ^{[6] [7]}.

3. Representative source numbers from the record

Examples drawn from the provided reporting show the spread: Rome2Rio presents a Minneapolis→Canada distance figure of about 409 miles in summary text ^[3], Travelmath lists the Minneapolis→Toronto flight distance as roughly 693–689 miles and driving at about 931 miles ^{[4] [5]}, and a specialized distance site gives the flight distance to a “Canadian‑Border‑Rd” point as 227.89 miles ^[1]. None of the sources supply a value at or under 100 miles; even the smallest of these documented estimates — the ~228‑mile flight distance — remains substantially larger than 100 miles ^{[1] [2]}.

4. How to interpret that for everyday questions and edge cases

For ordinary practical purposes — whether someone is asking “can I drive to Canada in an hour?” or “is the city essentially on the border?” — the available measurements make it clear Minneapolis is not within 100 miles of Canada: driving and flying estimators place the nearest plausible crossing or border‑adjacent point multiple hours away by car and well over 100 miles by straight‑line calculation ^{[2] [1]}. A cautious caveat: the provided sources focus on particular named endpoints and calculated routes, not an exhaustive GIS analysis of every millimeter between Minneapolis city limits and every point of the Canada–U.S. border; the reporting therefore supports the conclusion that Minneapolis sits hundreds of miles from typical border crossings and Canadian cities cited here, but does not present a single authoritative official GIS statement pinning the absolute nearest border point to the exact city center ^{[3] [1]}.

5. Bottom line

On the weight of the provided reporting — which includes flight‑distance calculations, driving route estimates, and travel‑site summaries — Minneapolis is decisively more than 100 miles from Canada, with documented figures clustering around ~200–400+ miles depending on the endpoint and method used ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The minor inconsistencies among those sources reflect differing choices of destination (Toronto, Winnipeg, a named border road) and measurement method (road vs. great‑circle), not evidence that Minneapolis lies within 100 miles of the Canadian border ^{[4] [8] [5]}.