How ethnically diverse is the Twin Cities? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: houses, neighborhoods)

[rockyinyourradio]

This is my first post here on the Twin Cities City Data forum, I currently live near Oklahoma City and hope my wife and I will move back to the Twin Cities area later in '11 or '12. My wife is from the west metro and I used to live in Plymouth for almost three years back in the 80's. I frequently visit (at least a couple times a year) and have noticed some changes:

A definite influx of hispanic/latino people moving in and especially folks from Somalia and the middle east. Infact, I've been amazed of the number of Somalians the last few years, especially in the uptown area. I would think the climate alone would make Minnesota almost inhospitable to them. I have also noticed that some of these people are not too outgoing, some have been outright rude. I lived for a brief time in Toronto, Ont. and was so surprised by how friendly the foreigners were there (people from overseas and especially third world nations) but these people from Somalia definitely seem to want to stay to themselves in the Twin Cities. Please keep in mind, this has been my own observation the last several times I've been back up there.

So, I need to be enlightened here being I've not been to the Mpls/St. Paul area no more than a few times a year since the 90's, but I am in touch very regularly through media outlets on the internet plus what friends of ours tell me, and frankly some of it doesn't sound very good. What is your opinion on this? and also on the friendliness of the latino community? For that matter, how are other "minorities" received in the Twin Cities? I can tell you wholeheartedly, I don't have a biased bone about me regardless of race, religion, politics or sexual preference, as long as you don't get obtrusive with your lifestyle on me, but I am concerned with what I've heard regarding the overall attitudes changing with some of these people on how they are treated and how they treat us.

I hope this thread doesn't get too inflammatory, but should be interesting to see the responses. I am purely just getting a feel for this as if we move back to the Twin Cities, it will be the last time we move so I want to make sure where we finally settle, we'll be in an area (preferably west metro near/west of I-494) that we'll be happy in and meet lots of great people from all walks of life .. and get along.

[Ben Around]

Please realize that in the cities themselves and the inner ring suburbs ("east of 494") you will find a great diversity of neighborhoods within small areas--moreso than you will find west of 494. If you want to avoid certain groups you might find to be not to your liking, there'll be neighborhoods close-by where those groups don't live.

[tropolis]

this thread has troll written all over it. i give you the benefit of the doubt though because you haven't made suspicious posts like this in the past, so i'll respond with what i know.

mn has the highest somali population in the country. 1 out of 3 us somalians live in minnesota. i worked with a somali at my last job and had no problems with him. he clashed with an ethopian though at my former workplace and they had problems. ethopia is almost a 100 percent christian nation. this guy wore a cross, gave money every week to his church, a devout christian. somalia on the other hand is nearly 100 percent islam. the somali i worked with observed the muslim fasting holiday(forget off the top of my head) and wouldnt eat or drink for a month since it was part of the religion.

one day we were talking politics and they got in a heated argument.

latino don't know about much.

i havent noticed many racial problems in this area, but im not directly in the city. the twin cities are primarily white. mn/st. paul has a nice mix though.

the racial breakdown would roughly be 65 white 20 black 10 hispanic 5 asian in my opinion

[Cleaver]

All I can comment on is the southern suburbs, primarily Eagan, as I have lived in three different areas there. There are a ton of Somali's, my neighbors on the other side of the wall are. Quite frankly, I like living next to them. They generally keep to themselves and avoid any kind of confrontation. They are scared of dogs for some reason. I have two and when I take them out to walk, if I meet a Somali in the hallway they run away, it's crazy, but I don't mind them at all.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by tropolis

ethopia is almost a 100 percent christian nation.

Not accurate- Muslim Ethiopians constitute somewhere in the range of 35% of the country's population.

Originally Posted by tropolis

the somali i worked with observed the muslim fasting holiday(forget off the top of my head) and wouldnt eat or drink for a month since it was part of the religion.

Ramadan is the month-long period of fasting from dawn to sunset, the end of which is celebrated with the Eid holiday.

[golfgal]

I just heard on WCCO yesterday that Minneapolis was 37% "non-white" and that Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park were the most diverse towns in MN, even more diverse than Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to the stats from the 2010 Census that are being compiled.

[audadvnc]

I live in the Jordan area of Minneapolis. Diversity is Reality here. The new neighbor, a single guy in the house next to mine, is white, private, and nervous. The family man behind me is from Liberia and is very gracious, and has been living here for 20 years. I'm as Anglo as the Mayflower - and a total PITA on Internet forum boards, heh. On my block I've got Minneswegians, Mexicans, Somalians, Laotians, your standard inner-city African Americans - young couples, college kids, middle aged folks with drinking problems, little old ladies that never show themselves, a few teenage troublemakers - pretty much a random sampling of humanity. It makes sense to me.

PS no crack houses or meth labs on my block (at least that I know of).

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I just heard on WCCO yesterday that Minneapolis was 37% "non-white" and that Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park were the most diverse towns in MN, even more diverse than Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to the stats from the 2010 Census that are being compiled.

That sounds about right. It has come up in past topics that overall Minneapolis and St. Paul aren't as diverse as other similarly sized U.S. cities. Most of the diversity is concentrated in a few areas whereas there are neighborhoods in both Minneapolis and St. Paul that are almost completely white. Most would agree that Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park are the most diverse suburbs in the metro area.

I would consider the metro area as a whole to be largely homogenous. I don't have the data in front of me but I'd guess somewhere around 80-85% caucasian.

The largest concentrations of diversity in Minneapolis are found in Near North, Camden, Powderhorn, Phillips and a few other neighborhoods here and there. Cedar-Riverside comes to mind as another very diverse neighborhood.

The suburbs around and west of 494 are 90%+ Caucasian and almost all middle to upper middle class families, not what I would consider diverse from a socio-economic or an ethnicity standpoint.

There are alot of Somalis in my neighborhood and we seem to get along with them pretty well. My wife has found some Somali women to be rude but not to the extent that it would make sense to generalize the entire population. We've found plenty of rude white people around here too. There is no shortage or rudeness around here regardless of race or national origin.

[knke0204]

I graduated with 260 people.

1 african american student
4 asian students

get the point?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Slig

The suburbs around and west of 494 are 90%+ Caucasian and almost all middle to upper middle class families, not what I would consider diverse from a socio-economic or an ethnicity standpoint.

You might be surprised by the latest census. This is what City-Data has to say about some of the suburbs in the W and SW metro as an appetizer:

Hopkins
# White alone - 13,755 (80.2%)
# Asian alone - 1,008 (5.9%)
# Hispanic - 949 (5.5%)
# Black alone - 874 (5.1%)
# Two or more races - 397 (2.3%)
# American alone - 114 (0.7%)
# Other race alone - 33 (0.2%)
# Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 15 (0.09%)

Eden Prairie
# White alone - 50,819 (81.0%)
# Asian alone - 4,855 (7.7%)
# Black alone - 3,573 (5.7%)
# Hispanic - 2,229 (3.6%)
# Two or more races - 840 (1.3%)
# American alone - 235 (0.4%)
# Other race alone - 153 (0.2%)

Of course, some suburbs do appear to still fit the stereotype:

Minnetonka
# White alone - 45,941 (90.7%)
# Black alone - 1,743 (3.4%)
# Asian alone - 1,413 (2.8%)
# Hispanic - 730 (1.4%)
# Two or more races - 594 (1.2%)
# American alone - 154 (0.3%)
# Other race alone - 59 (0.1%)

Edina
# White alone - 45,301 (90.1%)
# Asian alone - 2,111 (4.2%)
# Black alone - 1,062 (2.1%)
# Hispanic - 1,022 (2.0%)
# Two or more races - 539 (1.1%)
# American alone - 128 (0.3%)
# Other race alone - 98 (0.2%)

Wayzata
# White alone - 3,931 (95.6%)
# Hispanic - 58 (1.4%)
# Asian alone - 54 (1.3%)
# Two or more races - 32 (0.8%)
# Black alone - 17 (0.4%)
# American alone - 13 (0.3%)
# Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 8 (0.2%)