What demographic characteristics (age, employment, language, citizenship) define Minnesota’s Somali population in 2025?
Executive summary
Minnesota in recent estimates hosts the largest Somali community in the U.S., with state totals reported between roughly 61,000 and 64,000 people — about 1.1–1.12% of Minnesota’s population [1] [2]. Available sources describe a community that is younger than the statewide average (half or more under age 22 in some reporting), concentrated in the Twin Cities, with significant foreign‑born and labor‑market participation in health care and food manufacturing; however, precise 2025 breakdowns by age, employment, language use, and citizenship vary across sources and are not uniformly available in the provided reporting [3] [4] [5].
1. Minnesota’s Somali population: size and geographic concentration
Multiple recent compilations place Minnesota as home to the nation’s largest Somali population — World Population Review reports 64,354 Somalis (1.12% of the state) while several analyses using American Community Survey (ACS) estimates put the figure near 61,353 (about 1.1% of a 5.7 million state population) [1] [2]. County and city breakdowns in ACS‑based profiles show the bulk living in Hennepin and Ramsey counties and clustered in Minneapolis–St. Paul metro neighborhoods such as Cedar‑Riverside [2] [5].
2. Age profile: a demonstrably young community
State and federal narrative summaries emphasize that Somali Minnesotans are considerably younger than the overall population; one statewide health‑and‑demography overview states that “half or more of the population” among Somali Minnesotans is under age 22 [3]. Historical community profiles from Minneapolis–Saint Paul likewise document large numbers of Somali‑speaking children and families and note extensive community growth since the 1990s [5]. Exact 2025 age‑distribution tables are not supplied in the current selection of sources.
3. Employment: sectors, participation, and gaps in the record
Reporting indicates Somali Minnesotans have grown their employment rates over time and are concentrated in particular industries. National‑level summaries note Somali Americans’ employment and self‑employment rates rose through the 2010s; Minnesota figures historically showed employment rates above national Somali averages, and recent business‑community reporting calls out significant Somali participation in home health care and food‑manufacturing sectors (over 15% in home health services and notable shares in animal food processing) [6] [4]. However, the specific 2025 employment rate, unemployment rate, and occupational breakdown for Minnesota Somalis are not provided directly in the available excerpts [6] [4].
4. Language use: Somali at home and linguistic diversity
Community profiles state that Somali is a widely spoken language in Minnesota: by 2018, roughly 94,000 Minnesotans reportedly spoke Somali at home (a figure presented in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul history piece), and the state overall documents more than 100 languages spoken across Minnesota households [5] [3]. These items indicate strong continuing use of Somali at home, but the sources do not include a 2025 percentage of Somali‑language home speakers or age‑segmented language retention rates.
5. Citizenship and nativity: foreign‑born concentration and naturalization context
Data and state demography notes place a substantial foreign‑born Somali population in Minnesota. The MN State Demographic Center listed about 33,500 Minnesota residents born in Somalia in a 2018 snapshot (noting that U.S.‑born children are not counted in that figure), and other recent summaries list the state’s foreign‑born Somali total at roughly 36,495 with about 77% residing in the Twin Cities metro [7] [4]. National Somali‑American summaries show a mix of U.S.‑born and foreign‑born community members [6]. The exact count of naturalized U.S. citizens among Minnesota Somalis in 2025 is not provided in the available sources.
6. Trends, uncertainties, and reasons to treat numbers cautiously
Sources differ by several thousand people (61k vs. 64k) and caution that ACS/Census estimates can undercount immigrant communities because of language and trust barriers; Minnesota demographers and community groups have historically offered a range of estimates [2] [7] [5]. The MN State Demographic Center explicitly warns that survey methods likely underestimate immigrant populations [7]. Thus any single figure should be seen as an estimate, not a precise census.
7. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas in reporting
Government demography pages emphasize methodology limits and focus on trend context [7]; community histories and local journalism emphasize social, cultural, and economic contributions and often report higher counts reflecting community knowledge [5]. Business‑oriented summaries highlight labor contributions in specific industries to make an economic case for inclusion and workforce strategies [4]. Readers should note these differing emphases: demographers stress methodological caution, community sources stress lived scale and institutions, and business sources stress economic roles.
If you want, I can pull specific ACS tables (age distribution, employment by industry, language‑at‑home, and citizenship/nativity) for Minnesota Somalis from the 2023–2024 ACS releases to give exact 2025‑era numerical breakdowns — those datasets are not included in the current packet but would provide the detailed counts referenced above.