How many Somalia‑born residents in Minnesota are naturalized U.S. citizens according to the American Community Survey?

1. What the ACS-based sources report about Somalia‑born Minnesotans

Local reporting and state demographic summaries draw on the American Community Survey to report that there are “more than 41,000” Minnesota residents who were born in Somalia, a country‑of‑birth count distinct from ancestry counts ^{[1] [2]}; several outlets repeat an ACS‑based share that of the foreign‑born Somali population in Minnesota roughly 87% are naturalized U.S. citizens, a percentage presented as an overwhelming majority in multiple late‑2025 news stories ^{[2] [1] [3]}.

2. How the simple calculation produces the naturalized count

Combining the two ACS‑derived pieces — the reported Somalia‑born population (≈41,000) and the reported naturalization rate among the foreign‑born Somalis (≈87%) — produces an estimated count of naturalized Somalia‑born Minnesotans of about 35,700 (41,000 × 0.87 ≈ 35,670); that arithmetic is not itself quoted as a single ACS figure in the sources but is the straightforward product of the two ACS‑based data points cited by KTTC, FOX9 and PBS NewsHour ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

3. Limits, uncertainty and alternative ways the ACS can be read

The American Community Survey is a sample‑based estimate with margins of error, multi‑year pooling options and definitional choices (country of birth vs. ancestry vs. place of birth) that can yield different headline totals—some outlets cite roughly 107,000 people of Somali ancestry in Minnesota (ancestry, not Somalia‑born) while the country‑of‑birth count is far lower, near 41,000 ^{[1] [4]}; reporting also notes that a growing share of Minnesota’s Somali‑descent population is U.S.‑born (about 58% in some presentations), which affects how citizenship percentages are presented and interpreted ^{[2] [5]}.

4. Why the exact number matters and what the ACS does and does not show

The ACS can reliably estimate broad patterns—shares naturalized, foreign‑born counts, and trends over time—but it does not produce a single exact headcount without confidence intervals, and media summaries sometimes conflate ancestry, total Somali‑descent population, and Somalia‑born figures when reporting citizenship rates; the majority‑naturalized finding (≈87% of foreign‑born Somalis) has been repeated across multiple outlets relying on ACS tabulations, but users should treat the derived 35,700 figure as an informed estimate based on those published percentages and population snapshots rather than an unambiguous, single‑year census count ^{[2] [1] [3]}.

5. Alternative interpretations and reporting agendas to watch

Some outlets frame the ACS statistics to rebut political claims about Somali immigration and criminality, emphasizing high naturalization rates and U.S.‑born shares ^{[4] [6]}; others, including policy think tanks, pool multiple ACS years to profile socioeconomic outcomes and may emphasize different aspects of the data ^[7]; readers should note those differing emphases and the potential for selective citation of either ancestry versus country‑of‑birth totals to bolster a political narrative ^{[7] [8]}.

6. Bottom line answer

Based on American Community Survey figures reported in multiple contemporary sources — roughly 41,000 Somalia‑born Minnesotans and about 87% of foreign‑born Somalis naturalized — the best estimate from those ACS‑derived numbers is that about 35,700 Somalia‑born residents of Minnesota are naturalized U.S. citizens, with the caveat that this is a calculated estimate derived from two ACS‑based figures and subject to sampling error and definitional variation in the sources ^{[1] [2] [3]}.