Think Maple Grove is Big Now? Wait Until 2040

Maple Grove, get ready to grow.

Preliminary Met Council estimates released Wednesday predict that the city’s population will jump by 46 percent between 2010 and 2040—from 61,567 all the way up to 89,600 people.

How big is that? Right now, only two cities in the metro have bigger populations—Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Yet forecasters expect cities of that size to be increasingly common in 2040.  Neighboring Brooklyn Park will have 90,500 people, while Plymouth will have 101,800 people. Hennepin County as a whole is expected to grow 34 percent.

The growth means Maple Grove’s population density will climb from 1,759 people per square mile in 2010 to 2,560 in 2040.

The Met Council releases long-range, 30-year forecasts at least once a decade.  It released a regional forecast in April 2012 and published the preliminary local forecasts Wednesday. Forecasters assume that housing demand and supply and transportation availability are the primary drivers—although those factors are influenced by regional land use policies and local plans.

Click here for a full rundown of the Met Council’s Methodology and the tools it uses.