Minnesota Government in Brief

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Cities and Towns

Cities

There are 854 cities in Minnesota, which are either statutory cities or home rule charter cites.

Statutory Cities (747) are organized and operate under the options provided in the statutory city code and other laws.
Home Rule Charter Cities (107) are organized and operate under their individual charters and other laws.

City boundaries may cross county lines. There are presently 46 cities whose boundaries extend into more than one county.

Cities are also classified based on population as a way for the legislature to provide powers or impose duties as appropriate to cities of a certain size. Cities are classified as:

First: population of more than 100,000
Second: population 20,001 to 100,000
Third: population 10,001 to 20,000
Fourth: population 10,000 or less

Most and Least Populous Cities

Cities, 2009
10 Most Populous		*10 Least Populous*
Minneapolis St. Paul Rochester Duluth Bloomington Brooklyn Park Plymouth Eagan St. Cloud Coon Rapids	386,691 287,501 104,578 85,530 84,701 75,306 71,930 65,933 65,741 63,162	Regal Donaldson Johnson Strathcona Leonard Hillman Barry Kinbrae Funkley Tenney	29 28 27 27 24 22 16 15 6 4

Source: State Demographer

Towns

There are 1,786 towns in Minnesota.

Hold annual town meetings at which the electors exercise powers granted in law, such as setting the levy
Governed by a three- or five-member elected board of supervisors
May exercise "urban" town powers if population is at least 1,000 (216 towns are eligible)