Minnesota is home to somewhere between about 60,000 and 100,000 people of Somali origin, depending on how they are counted. Most official data sources cluster in the low‑60,000 range, while community and local estimates often land closer to 80,000–90,000.

Core numbers

  • U.S. Census/ACS–based aggregators estimate roughly 61,000–64,000 Somali residents in Minnesota (about 1–1.1% of the state population).
  • Fact-check compilations summarize a Census-derived range of about 61,000–64,000 versus community estimates around 80,000–87,000 Somali-origin residents.
  • Several health and cultural sources describe “70,000 or more” Somalis in Minnesota and note that the state has the largest Somali community in the U.S.

Why estimates differ

  • Who is counted:
    • Official surveys often focus on people born in Somalia or those who self-report Somali ancestry or language in limited questionnaire options.
* Community estimates typically try to include **U.S.-born children of Somali parents, recent arrivals, and people missed by surveys** , which pushes their numbers higher.
  • Data limits:
    • Sampling error, undercounting of immigrants, and how ancestry questions are interpreted all create gaps between official statistics and on-the-ground community counts.
* State demographers have noted that while their models stay conservative, community leaders and historical guides often cite higher totals (up to the high‑80,000s) for the same reason.

Where Somalis live in Minnesota

  • The Twin Cities metro (especially Minneapolis and St. Paul plus nearby suburbs) is the main hub, with tens of thousands of Somali Minnesotans clustered there.
  • Recent reporting cites over 80,000 Somalis of Somali descent in the Twin Cities metro alone under some broader counting methods, with Minneapolis itself hosting tens of thousands.

How to interpret “how many Somalis in Minnesota”

  • If the question is about official statistics , a reasonable current shorthand is: around 60‑plus thousand Somalis in Minnesota.
  • If the question is about the broader Somali community (including U.S.-born children and those surveys miss) , a fair, widely cited range is roughly 70,000 to near 90,000 Somalis or Somali‑origin residents in Minnesota.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.