Every year, updated data on Minnesota's population is released, often broken out into common broad racial groups such as White, Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American.
10 charts explain the economic status of Minnesota's cultural groups
A data-driven look at why broad statistics for racial groups can hide the stories of success or struggle in smaller populations.
February 3, 2016 at 5:45PM
Recently, a sharp drop in median income among black Minnesotans prompted the Minnesota State Demographic Center to take a deeper economic look at ethnic "subgroups" -- the smaller groups that make up each of those larger racial groups.
These subgroups together represent a relatively small percentage of Minnesota's population -- less than 20 percent -- but they are growing quickly. White Minnesotans make up the largest group at 4.4 million residents. Here are the other subgroups.
Birthplace can be an indicator of potential challenges to economic success. About 8 percent of Minnesotans are foreign-born, but many of these subgroups have higher shares of their populations born in other countries.
One such challenge can be English fluency, which can make it tough for adults to find employment or for children to succeed in school. For some subgroups, more than one in five cannot speak English well.
About 180,000 Minnesotans do not have a high school diploma, leaving few options for stable jobs. Nearly 40 percent of those of Mexican descent are in this position.
It's not terribly surprising, then, that large proportions of many of these subgroups live at or below the federal poverty line, which is about $22,000 a year for a family of four.
When we look at the number of Minnesotans living in or near poverty,we see that although only 21 percent of whites are in low-income households, the sheer number is still far higher than any other group.
Other factors that can impact household income are how many earners are in the household, whether those earners are able to find full or part-time work, and whether any disabilities hinder the ability to work at all.
Those who work full-time not only earn more, they also typically also have more stability in terms of benefits like paid sick leave and health insurance.
Households that rent housing are more vulnerable to changes in their housing costs, and are unable to build their net worth through homeownership over time.
To see more data on this topic from the Minnesota State Demographic Center, go here.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
