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2000 Census

Key Facts - Income by Census Tracts

• Economic prosperity brought higher median household incomes to many census tracts surrounding the central cities and older suburbs. Census tracts with median household incomes of at least $75,000 spread to a much larger area ringing the outer suburbs in 1999 compared with 1989, after adjusting for inflation.
• The number of census tracts with a median household income of at least $75,000 expanded to 17.9 percent of 689 total tracts in 1999, up from 5.4 percent of 606 total tracts in 1989, after adjustment for inflation.
• Especially in western suburbs, the number of census tracts with sizable concentrations of the highest income households grew in 1999. A total of 46 census tracts had 10 percent or more households with incomes of at least $200,000 in 1999. During the previous decade, only 19 census tracts had at least 10 percent of households with incomes over $150,000, the highest income range reported in 1989.
• In contrast with the highest income households, the number of census tracts with lower income households fell precipitously from 1989 to 1999. The number of tracts with median income less than $25,000 dropped from 68 in 1989 (after adjustment for inflation) to 30 in 1999. The location of these tracts remained concentrated in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
• According to the distribution of household incomes, the lowest income households remained highly centralized in Minneapolis and St. Paul. In 1999, only three census tracts outside the central cities had at least 40 percent of households with incomes under $25,000, out of a total of 61 tracts.
• Census tracts with high concentrations of the lowest income households lessened in 1999. During the previous decade, census tracts that included at least 40 percent of households with incomes under $20,000 were more prevalent in the central cities and extended further into small pockets of the older suburbs. A total of 113 census tracts had at least 40 percent of households with incomes less than $20,000 in 1989.