The seven-county Twin Cities region grew by 3.9% between 2020 and 2025, according to the Metropolitan Council, the region’s planning agency, which published its 2025 estimates in July 2026. The growth was not spread evenly. In the Council’s words, “most recent population and household growth (2020-2025) took place in the region’s Emerging Suburban Edge where new housing construction was concentrated in the early 2020s.”
This page names those places. It uses two independent sets of estimates and shows both, because they do not always agree:
- Metropolitan Council: 2025 estimates dated April 1, 2025, against the April 2020 Census count, read from each city’s community profile on September 28, 2026. The Council covers the seven metro counties only.
- U.S. Census Bureau: the Vintage 2025 city and town estimates, dated July 1, 2025, against the Bureau’s April 2020 estimates base.
Both tables count cities of at least 5,000 people in 2025. Below that, a single new subdivision can swing the percentage on its own.
The fastest-growing cities, by share
| City | County | 2020 Census | 2025 estimate | Added | Change, Met Council | Change, Census Bureau |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | Hennepin | 7,212 | 11,347 | 4,135 | +57.3% | +57.0% |
| Corcoran | Hennepin | 6,185 | 9,577 | 3,392 | +54.8% | +49.8% |
| Carver | Carver | 5,241 | 7,378 | 2,137 | +40.8% | +35.0% |
| Lake Elmo | Washington | 11,335 | 15,280 | 3,945 | +34.8% | +26.9% |
| Rogers | Hennepin | 13,295 | 17,626 | 4,331 | +32.6% | +17.4% |
| Victoria | Carver | 10,546 | 12,853 | 2,307 | +21.9% | +17.9% |
| Medina | Hennepin | 6,837 | 7,996 | 1,159 | +17.0% | +8.8% |
| Rosemount | Dakota | 25,650 | 29,535 | 3,885 | +15.1% | +24.3% |
| Cottage Grove | Washington | 38,839 | 44,711 | 5,872 | +15.1% | +12.3% |
| Elko New Market | Scott | 4,846 | 5,510 | 664 | +13.7% | +9.6% |
| Waconia | Carver | 13,033 | 14,810 | 1,777 | +13.6% | +8.3% |
| Lakeville | Dakota | 69,490 | 78,810 | 9,320 | +13.4% | +14.1% |
The 2025 estimate is the Metropolitan Council’s, and the table is ranked by it; the last column is the Census Bureau’s own estimate for the same city, for comparison.
Dayton and Corcoran, neighbours in northwest Hennepin County, each grew by about half in five years, and the two agencies agree on that to within five points. Carver, Lake Elmo and Victoria are in the top seven on both.
The widest disagreements are worth knowing about if you are weighing one of these cities. Rogers grew by a third by the Metropolitan Council’s estimate and by about a sixth by the Census Bureau’s. Rosemount runs the other way, 15% against 24%. Neither figure is a count. Where they differ this much, treat the city as fast-growing and the exact percentage as uncertain.
The most residents added
| City | 2020 Census | 2025 estimate | Added, Met Council | Added, Census Bureau |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeville | 69,490 | 78,810 | 9,320 | 9,773 |
| Blaine | 70,222 | 77,871 | 7,649 | 6,386 |
| Woodbury | 75,102 | 82,490 | 7,388 | 6,453 |
| Cottage Grove | 38,839 | 44,711 | 5,872 | 4,770 |
| Minneapolis | 429,956 | 435,246 | 5,290 | 340 |
| Shakopee | 43,698 | 48,913 | 5,215 | 5,649 |
| Maple Grove | 70,253 | 74,639 | 4,386 | 3,627 |
| Rogers | 13,295 | 17,626 | 4,331 | 2,308 |
| Dayton | 7,212 | 11,347 | 4,135 | 4,140 |
| Lake Elmo | 11,335 | 15,280 | 3,945 | 3,047 |
Lakeville added more people than any other city in the region by both estimates: more than Dayton’s entire 2020 population. Blaine and Woodbury follow.
Minneapolis is on this list because it is large. Its growth was about 1% by the Metropolitan Council’s estimate and 0.1% by the Census Bureau’s. St. Paul’s was 0.5% and a 1.5% decline. The two agencies differ on whether the central cities grew at all; on either count, the region’s growth happened at its edges.
What this means if you are building
Growth follows buildable land. The cities at the top of both tables are where farmland became subdivisions in the 2020s. For where land is still available, our county pages list every city’s and township’s build-candidate parcels from the Lot Finder: Hennepin, Dakota, Washington, Carver, Scott and Anoka.
A fast-growing city often means a developer’s lot. In new subdivisions a lot is often sold with a builder attached. If you want to choose your own builder, ask the developer before you fall for a lot whether the neighbourhood has a builder list, and who is on it.
Fees and rules are set city by city. Our city pages for Lakeville, Rogers and Medina list the builders working there and, where we have sourced them, the city’s permit and connection fees.
How to read these numbers
- Estimates, not counts. The next count is the 2030 Census. Both agencies revise their past estimates each year, so a figure here can change in next year’s release.
- Different dates. The Metropolitan Council’s estimates are for April 1, 2025, the Census Bureau’s for July 1, 2025. A quarter of a year of move-ins sits between them.
- Boundaries move. A city that annexes land gains the people living on it; that is growth on paper, not new homes.
- Seven counties. The Metropolitan Council’s estimates stop at the metro line. Fast-growing cities just outside it, such as Otsego and St. Michael in Wright County, grew 23% and 24% by the Census Bureau’s estimates and do not appear in the tables above.