Minneapolis is not a US state. It is a city in Minnesota. The state is Minnesota, the state code is MN, and the state capital is Saint Paul, not Minneapolis.
Minneapolis and Minnesota, side by side
| Is Minneapolis a state? | No, it is a city |
|---|---|
| State it belongs to | Minnesota |
| USPS state code | MN |
| State capital | Saint Paul |
| Largest city in the state | Minneapolis |
| Region | Midwest |
| Admitted to the Union | 1858 |
| State nickname | North Star State |
| Time zone | Central |
| Electoral votes | 10 |
Why people ask if Minneapolis is a state
This one is mostly the fault of the spelling. Minneapolis and Minnesota open with the same five letters. When a city and its state share that much of a name, the two stop reading as separate labels and people use whichever version they heard most recently.
Three more things push the question along:
- The Twin Cities are written as one unit. Minneapolis and Saint Paul sit next to each other and get quoted as a single place in weather, sports and business coverage. They are two separate cities with separate governments, and only Saint Paul is the state capital.
- The "polis" ending suggests a capital. Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana and Annapolis is the capital of Maryland. Two of the best known American cities ending that way are seats of government, so the pattern implies Minneapolis is one too. It is not.
- Minneapolis outranks its own capital in fame. The city carries the state's professional teams, its airport hub and its music history, while Saint Paul stays out of the national conversation.
The near answers people give instead
- "Minneapolis is the capital of Minnesota." Saint Paul is. Minnesota is one of only five states whose capital begins with the letter S, alongside Sacramento, Salem, Santa Fe and Springfield.
- "Saint Paul is a suburb of Minneapolis." It is a separate incorporated city, and it is the one that holds the legislature.
- "Minneapolis is in Michigan or Missouri." All three states start with M and sit toward the middle of the map. Michigan's largest city is Detroit and Missouri's is Kansas City. Minneapolis belongs to Minnesota.
- "Minnesota is not on a Great Lake." It is. Minnesota's shoreline is on Lake Superior, which makes it one of the eight Great Lakes states.
What Minnesota actually is
Minnesota is a Midwest state admitted to the Union in 1858. It ranks 12th of the 50 states by area, runs on Central time and carries 10 electoral votes. The nickname is the North Star State, the motto is "L'étoile du nord", the state bird is the common loon and the state tree is the red pine.
The state has more than 11,842 lakes of at least ten acres, which means the "10,000 lakes" slogan undersells it. The Mississippi River starts here at Lake Itasca, where the source is shallow enough to walk across, and the Mall of America in Bloomington is the largest mall in the country at 5.6 million square feet.
Quick reference for forms and quizzes
- City: Minneapolis
- State: Minnesota
- State abbreviation (USPS): MN
- State capital: Saint Paul
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Is Minneapolis a state?
No. Minneapolis is a US city located in Minnesota, not a state. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota, paired with Saint Paul (the actual capital) to form the "Twin Cities". The state is Minnesota.
What state is Minneapolis in?
Minneapolis is in Minnesota. The USPS code is MN.
What's the capital of Minnesota?
The capital of Minnesota is Saint Paul. Minneapolis is the larger of the two cities but holds no state government role.
Are Minneapolis and Saint Paul the same city?
No. They are two separate cities that sit next to each other on the Mississippi River and are known together as the Twin Cities.