geographic definitions

What do we mean by Twin Cities "region"?

In most cases, the "region" refers to the 7-county metropolitan area, which includes Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington Counites.

In some cases, we were not able to get data for only the 7-county metro, but were able to get them for the 13-county area. In those cases, the counties of Chisago, Isanti, Sherburne, Wright (MN) and Pierce and St. Croix (WI) are included.

When comparing the Twin Cities region to other large "metropolitan statistical areas" (MSAs), we rely on the federal definitions for such areas, including the 13-county "Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area". (Counties included in the federal definition of the area are as listed above.)

What do we mean by "core cities"?

Many of the Key Measures compare the "core cities" to the suburbs. These refer to Minneapolis and St. Paul.