Minnsights Blog

There are a number of ways to analyze the economic and multidimensional contributions of immigrants to the development of Minnesota’s economy. In this analysis, immigrants’ impacts are measured by their role in the economy as consumers, sources of human capital, taxpayers, entrepreneurs and by facilitating connections to global markets.

Immigrants are more geographically concentrated than native-born citizens, no matter what geographical unit is used. To facilitate further analysis of immigrants in Minnesota, this report divides the state into six regions: Central, Twin Cities metro, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest.

Minnesota has a diverse economy with specialization in numerous industries. Using location quotients, which identify specialization in an area, a few types of industries stand out as integral to the Minnesota economy.

Among the key characteristics of Minnesota’s economy are its industrial diversity and large number of homegrown enterprises, i.e. businesses that start, succeed and grow in the state. Fueling these characteristics are high-quality native-born and immigrant entrepreneurs and workers. The rate of entrepreneurship—whether native-born or immigrant—is modest relative to other states, but their businesses survive at a rate that’s among the highest. Workforce participation rates by native-born and immigrant Minnesotans alike are also high-ranking.

Find your community on this list, and apply for valuable resources to keep your company operating. If you don’t see your community on this list, email mail@mnchamber.com, and Grow Minnesota! staff will get back to you with details about your area.