Hennepin County area

Population and density of Hennepin County

The Census Bureau estimates that 1,284,784 people lived in Hennepin County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #35 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #1 of 87 in Minnesota. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 1,281,566, the population has grown by 3,218 (+0.3%), compared with +2.2% for Minnesota as a whole.

With 554 square miles of land, that is 2,319 people per square mile (895 per km²), placing Hennepin County #70 nationally for density and #2 in Minnesota. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the Minnesota median is 27. Put another way, there are about 0.276 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in Hennepin County

45 incorporated places lie at least partly in Hennepin County. Together they are home to 1,284,367 people (100%); the other 417 (0%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Minneapolis city, with 430,324 residents in the county. Among places with at least 1,000 residents in 2020, Dayton city grew fastest since then (+57%).

Population: U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 subcounty estimates, counting only the part of each place inside Hennepin County. Land: 2026 Census Gazetteer, for the whole place even where it extends into other counties. How communities are listed.

Metropolitan area

Hennepin County is a central county of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its 15 county equivalents have 3,790,295 residents on 7,047.6 square miles of land; Hennepin County accounts for 7.9% of the land and 33.9% of the residents. By combined land it ranks #26 of 393 metropolitan areas, and #16 by population. It belongs to the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI Combined Statistical Area.

ZIP codes

73 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in Hennepin County; 67 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

55111553055531155316553175532755328553315534055341553435534455345553465534755356553575535955364553695537355374553755538455387553885539155401554025540355404554055540655407554085540955410554115541255413554145541555416554175541855419554205542155422554235542455425554265542755428554295543055431554355543655437554385543955441554425544355444554455544655447554505545455455

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering Hennepin County

Hennepin County shares a land border with 7 county equivalents. It has more land than 5 of them. The largest neighbor is Wright County (661.2 mi²) and the smallest is Ramsey County (152.3 mi²). Together with its neighbors, Hennepin County forms a block of 3,494.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 15.9%.

How big is Hennepin County compared with U.S. states?

Hennepin County has less land than any of the 50 states. Rhode Island, the smallest state by land area, has 1,033.9 mi², about 1.9 times as much. Minnesota’s county land could hold about 144 areas the size of Hennepin County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 23.5 miles (37.9 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about Hennepin County?

Hennepin County has more land than 1,347 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places Hennepin County at #1,720 nationally by total area, 155 places closer to the top than its land rank. The water assigned to this geography moves it ahead of some county equivalents with more land.

Its water share is 8.7%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 7.5 percentage points higher. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside Hennepin County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.