Profile of populations on American Indian reservations

Population on Minnesota's American Indian reservations and trust lands increased 33.7 percent between 1990 and 2000. Reservation population totaled 35,282 people in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. There are 14 reservations and associated trust lands in the state; however, no people live on the Ho-Chunk Reservation. Reservations in Minnesota range in size from 10,205 people on the Leech Lake Reservation to 57 on the Upper Sioux Reservation. Median age on the reservations is just as variable, with a high of 39.9 on the Mille Lacs Reservation to a low of 20.1 on the Red Lake Reservation. Minnesota's median age is 35.4 years.

In the 2000 Census data, 81,074 Minnesotans identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native alone or in combination with other races; 18,397 live on Minnesota's reservations. Racial composition, like other demographic variables, ranges widely among the reservations in Minnesota. The percentage of residents on reservations who identified themselves as American Indian or Alaskan Native alone or in combination was highest on Red Lake (98.6 percent) and lowest on Fond du Lac (40 percent). The Red Lake Reservation had the lowest proportion of non-Hispanic white population (1.1 percent), while the highest proportion was on Mille Lacs (72.3 percent).

Five cities in Minnesota have more than 1,000 persons who identified themselves as American Indians alone or in combination. A total of 24,407 American Indian s live in the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth, Bemidji and Cloquet.

Households on the reservations are more likely to be family households than the state as a whole, but those families are less likely to be married couples. Nearly 73 percent of all households on reservations are family households; nearly half of them have children under 18. Single-person households make up 22.9 percent of all households compared with 26.9 for the state. Married couple families make up another 46 percent. In Minnesota the proportion was 53.7 percent. Single mothers with children under 18 head 12.3 percent of all households on the reservations, but 5.9 percent for the state as a whole.

Average household size on the reservations was 2.83, much higher than the state average, but slightly smaller than the 2.96 average in 1990. Household size ranged from 2.19 on Upper Sioux to 3.77 on Red Lake. Average family size was slightly larger, with the largest on Red Lake (4.01) and the smallest on Grand Portage (2.82).

Homeownership rates on the American Indian reservations average 76.3 percent, slightly higher than the statewide average (74.6 percent) and the 1990 rate of 75.8 percent. The lowest rates of home ownership are on Red Lake (63.6 percent) and Grand Portage (66.8 percent). The highest rates are on the smaller reservations of the Minnesota Chippewa Trust Land (96.4 percent), Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (94.9 percent) and Lower Sioux Reservation (94.5 percent ).

Housing vacancy rates are fairly low on the reservations, averaging 6 percent, down from 7.6 percent in 1990. Rates ranged from 16.1 percent on the Upper Sioux Reservation (there are only 31 housing units on this reservation) to 1.5 percent on Prairie Island Reservation, another small reservation with only 65 housing units.

Download

Reservation multi-race data:  Lotus  (41K) |  CSV (17K)