Census 2000 Fact Sheet:  Minnesota Household Profile of General Demographic Characteristics

Information in this fact sheet is from DP-1 Profile of General Demographic Characteristics.

Household growth in Minnesota was less dramatic in the 1990s than in earlier decades. The number of households grew 15.0 percent from 1990 to 2000, just slightly faster than the 12.4 percent rate of population growth. By comparison, from 1970 to 1990, household growth (43 percent) outpaced population growth (15 percent) by a huge margin. Changes in average household size in the 1990s were also modest. The average Minnesota household contained 2.52 people in 2000, barely lower than the 2.58 figure recorded in 1990. This contrasts with the marked decline in household size from 3.20 to 2.58 between 1970 and 1990.

More diverse household types

Though household size did not change dramatically in the past decade, households continued to become more diverse, with a larger proportion of people living in nonfamily households, single parent families, and families without children at home.

Family household share declines

Families are households where the householder (the first person listed on the census form) is related to at least one other household member through birth, marriage or adoption. In Minnesota, family households fell from 68.6 of all households in 1990 to 66.2 percent in 2000. The declining share of family households mainly reflects slow growth in the number of married couple families.

Average family size declined very slightly from 3.13 persons per family in 1990 to 3.09 in 2000.

Married couple families grow slowly

Married couples accounted for 53.7 percent of all households, down from 57.2 percent in 1990. There was especially low growth in the number of married couples with own children (natural born or adopted children of either spouse), only 4 percent. The rate of increase for couples without own children under 18 was somewhat higher at 12 percent. Couples with no children include those who have never had children as well as those whose children have grown up and left home. Given the aging of the population in the 1990s, increases in the number of empty nesters is probably the major factor in the growth in the number of childless married couples.

Other families grow more rapidly

The number of families other than married couples grew substantially. By 2000, 12.5 percent of all households were of this type. All told, non-married-couple families, including those without children under 18 as well as single parent families, increased 26 percent. Families headed by a single mother increased 23 percent, and families headed by a single father rose 72 percent.

Nonfamily households increase substantially

Nonfamily households grew much faster than family households, 24 percent compared to 11 percent. Nonfamily households may have only one person or they may include two or more unrelated people living together.

More than one-quarter of Minnesota households, 27 percent, contain only one person. Between 1990 and 2000, there was a gain of 95,937 one-person households, accounting for 39 percent of all households added during the decade.

Nonfamily households with two or more people grew rapidly, posting a 26 percent gain from 1990 to 2000. Increased cohabitation by unmarried couples may account for much of this growth. The number of people identifying themselves as "unmarried partners" of the householder jumped by 68 percent over the decade. By 2000, 7 percent of Minnesota households were nonfamily households with two or more people. This household category includes people living with friends or roommates as well as those in intimate partnerships.

Few Minnesotans live in group quarters

Only 2.8 percent of Minnesotans did not live in households in 2000. This figure includes 63,058 living in institutions such as prisons and nursing homes, and 72,825 living in noninstitutional group quarters such as college dormitories and military barracks. Detailed information on types of group quarters is not available at this time. The institutional population fell between 1990 and 2000, while the noninstitutional group quarters population rose 34 percent.

United States vs. Minnesota households

Female-headed families make up a larger share of national households (12.2 percent) than of Minnesota households (8.9 percent), while married couples are more common in Minnesota (53.7 percent) than in the United States (51.7 percent). Minnesota also has a larger share of one-person households, 26.9 percent compared to the national average of 25.8 percent.

Counties with largest and smallest households

A map showing average household size in Minnesota looks very much like a reverse image of the map showing median age. The youngest counties have larger average household size, while the oldest counties have smaller average household size. This is because older people usually live in small households, while younger people are more likely to be living in families with children.

Household sizes are largest in suburban counties of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the areas that attract the most families with children. Fast-growing Sherburne County had the largest average household size in 2000, 2.91, followed by Scott (2.89), Carver (2.84) and Wright (2.83) counties.

On average, households are smallest in northeastern and southwestern Minnesota and along the Iowa border. Cook County in the northeast corner of the state had the smallest average household size, 2.17. Aitkin (2.28), St. Louis (2.32) and Lake (2.32) were among other counties with the smallest households.

Communities with largest and smallest households

The communities with the largest average household size are Ponemah (4.18 persons per household) in Beltrami County, Mountain Lake Township in Cottonwood County (3.91), Cokato Township in Wright County (3.88) and Redby in Beltrami County (3.81). Both Ponemah and Redby are Census Designated Places that appeared on the list of communities with the youngest average age.

Tenney (1.50 persons per household), North Red River Township in Kittson County (1.50), Spring Park (1.63) and Lilydale (1.63) had the smallest average households. Again the rankings demonstrate the relationship between median age and household size; Tenney and Lilydale ranked among the 5 oldest communities in the state.

• Download household size by county from Census 2000 (Excel format)
• Download household size by MCD and place from Census 2000  (Excel format)