Where People Are Moving To In Minnesota In 2026

Minnesota sits at a crossroads in the Upper Midwest with a dense urban core in the Twin Cities. Surrounding the metro are rapidly expanding suburban and regional communities. Recent population growth has concentrated outside Minneapolis and St. Paul. The gain has shifted into outer-ring counties like Dakota, Scott, Washington, and Anoka. Housing supply and new development remain more accessible at the suburban edge. The seven cities ahead show where the growth has been most visible since 2020.

Lakeville

Lakeville recorded the largest net population gain among Minnesota cities in the most recent Census estimates. The city grew from 70,026 residents in 2020 to 79,270 in 2025, an increase of over 13%. Much of that growth has come from internal movement within the Twin Cities region. Recent data from the IRS and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis suggest people are leaving Hennepin and Ramsey counties for Dakota County communities as residents look for newer housing options in larger residential developments.

Lakeville's growth has been closely tied to ongoing single-family home construction. One of the most active areas of development has been the southern Lakeville housing belt near Kenwood Trail and Cedar Avenue, where new neighborhoods and schools continue to expand capacity for incoming residents. This has made the city an attractive destination for families and young professionals looking for easy access to Minneapolis and St. Paul without too much of the metro chaos.

Blaine

Blaine sits in the northern arc of the Twin Cities metro, where newer suburban development has continued to extend outward from older Anoka County communities. The city's population rose from 70,463 in 2020 to 76,603 in 2025, increasing by more than 8.7%. IRS migration data shows that many new residents are arriving from the central metro, particularly Hennepin and Ramsey counties, as households trade denser urban settings for lower-density suburban layouts.

Incremental subdivision build-out, rather than one large master-planned wave, has been the driving force of growth in this area. The result is a landscape where established residential streets connect directly into newer housing clusters and expanded school attendance zones, especially in areas served by Blaine High School and surrounding athletic and community facilities.

Rosemount

Rosemount's growth between 2020 and 2025 reflects how Dakota County is benefiting from new housing demand. The city increased from 25,785 residents to 31,881 from 2020 to 2025, growing by over 23%. A large share of that change has gathered around recently built housing rather than older established neighborhoods. Like many towns in the area, IRS migration data points to steady movement out of Hennepin and Ramsey counties into the southern metro, where land availability still supports larger-scale residential construction.

In Rosemount, that has translated into development stepping outward from the historic town center rather than intensifying within it, with new neighborhoods forming along the town's major roadways. Industrial and logistics activity near the University of Minnesota Outreach, Research, and Education Park area has also influenced residential demand, bringing workers into closer proximity to newer subdivisions. The result is a city where recent growth is spatially separated from its older core, with most expansion occurring in distinct residential pockets.

Woodbury

Woodbury's recent growth shows how established suburbs in the eastern Twin Cities metro are continuing to expand. The municipality grew from 75,473 residents in 2020 to 81,558 in 2025, an increase of 8%. Rather than expanding through large-scale new annexations or frontier development, Woodbury's growth has largely come from the gradual buildout of remaining undeveloped land within an already highly planned suburban structure. IRS migration data shows consistent inflows from Hennepin and Ramsey counties, suggesting continued movement from the urban core into Washington County's suburban ring.

A defining feature of Woodbury's recent change is how development has concentrated around established commercial areas, where residential construction fills gaps between retail centers, office space, and parks rather than pushing the city's boundary outward. This is in contrast with many other high-growth towns, which see expansion away from developed centers. Areas near Tamarack Road and CityPlace have become focal points for this infill-style expansion, with housing, services, and employment space increasingly layered into the same corridors.

Shakopee

Shakopee's location along major employment and transportation corridors has helped make it one of the fastest-growing communities in the southwest Twin Cities metro. The city grew from 44,080 residents in 2020 to 49,366 in 2025, a 12% population increase, with much of that growth concentrated near major job centers and transit routes.

Recent housing additions are not evenly distributed but instead group near established development pockets along the Minnesota River valley. IRS migration data suggests that many new residents are coming from within the Twin Cities region, but also from nearby Scott County communities, shifting closer to employment centers. Rather than expanding in a continuous outward ring, Shakopee's residential growth has been shaped by the geography of the river and the placement of large-scale employers, funneling new construction into specific areas rather than broad expansion zones.

Cottage Grove

Cottage Grove has continued to grow steadily in recent years, showing up less as a single wave of development and more as a steady accumulation across different parts of the city over time. The population grew by nearly 12% between 2020 and 2025, rising from 38,985 to 43,604. Census estimates indicate that the gains are tied to ongoing household movement within the Twin Cities region, with IRS migration data showing consistent inflows from Hennepin and Ramsey counties as well as nearby Washington County communities.

The change has been absorbed through a mix of resale housing and smaller, phased residential additions rather than a single large expansion area. Parts of the city closer to Highway 61 have seen a gradual layering of housing and services, while older subdivisions continue cycling through new ownership at higher occupancy levels.

Otsego

What stands out in Otsego is timing and geography aligning at the same time. It sits at the point where the northwest metro transitions into less developed Wright County land, and that position has allowed housing to expand in discrete phases as infrastructure extends outward. Census estimates place its gains alongside continued expansion along the Interstate 94 corridor, where new residential areas are still being opened rather than filled in.

Otsego's population rose from 20,174 in 2020 to 24,525 in 2025, an increase of 21.5%. That change puts it in a different category than the older, more built-out suburbs closer to Minneapolis, where growth tends to come from infill and turnover. Rather than reflecting redistribution inside a fully built suburban grid, Otsego's growth is tied to the creation of entirely new residential zones that only recently became viable at scale as utilities, road access, and commuting patterns reached farther northwest.

Minnesota's Migration Patterns Are on the Rise

Minnesota's growth is increasingly organized around a few clear suburban and regional corridors rather than spread evenly across the state. The largest gains are concentrated in outer-ring Twin Cities counties, especially Dakota, Washington, Scott, and Anoka.

IRS migration data points to continued internal movement away from Hennepin and Ramsey counties into the surrounding areas, reinforcing a long-running shift in where households are settling within the metro. At the same time, regional hubs continue to function as secondary growth centers tied to healthcare, education, and logistics employment. The result is a state where housing availability, commuting access, and job concentration are increasingly determining where growth occurs, with older core areas stabilizing while the suburban edge carries most of the expansion pressure.