Demographics of Minneapolis - Race and Ethnicity

Race and Ethnicity

As of the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, the racial composition was as follows:

• White:70.2%
• Black or African American: 17.4%
• American Indian: 1.7%
• Asian: 4.9%
• Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.0%
• Some other race: 2.8%
• Two or more races: 3.0%

• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 9.2%

Source:

From 1800 to about 1950, Minneapolis hovered around 90.0% white. As of the 2000 Census, non-Hispanic whites represented 62.5% of Minneapolis's population. Since the 1950s, the city has been diversifying. Immigrants from countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and other countries have brought Minneapolis a more ethnically diverse population. According to the recent 2006-2008 estimates, non-Hispanic whites now represent 64.2% of Minneapolis's population, up from the 2000 figure. Most major American cities are gaining minorities and losing whites. However, out of the nation's 100 largest cities, Minneapolis is one of seventeen cities in which the trend has halted or even reversed.

Blacks have quietly settled as early as the late 19th century after the American Civil War when northern cities were seen as havens from the cultural politics of the South. However, blacks who did not gain mobility into the middle-class were concentrated in public housing ghettos. This resulted in a lawsuit in the 1990s and public housing was subsequently dispersed in the metropolitan area. After the 1960s when much of the white flight occurred, the black population largely settled in North Minneapolis.

Asians historically did not have a significant presence, but there are roughly 17,700 Asians in Minneapolis today, and their influence is growing. Their history began with labor workers working on railroads in the late 19th century who resettled in Minneapolis. These were mostly southern Chinese and in time brought families and others seeking fortune. The 20th century saw movement from other parts of East Asia including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. U.S. events in that region resulted in a greater influx of these populations, though Minneapolis only saw a small portion of the immigration, as most of these immigrants settled in California. Chinese dominated the group until the Vietnam War generated a large refugee migration into South Minneapolis in the 1970s. This followed with Southeast Asians who experienced the effects of other U.S. incidents in that area. The Hmong nomadic clans were offered settlement and though most of that ethnic group went to St. Paul, Minneapolis received a significant share. As a result, the 2000 Census reported 13,883 people who marked "Other Asian" in the tic box, half of the Asian American group, while Chinese numbered at 2,447 people. As of the 2006-2008 American Community Survey, there are 8,315 who were of the "Other Asian" group and there were 2,925 Chinese Americans residing in Minneapolis.