Minnesota Counties Map: Click All 87 Counties

How many counties are in Minnesota?

Minnesota has 87 counties. 13 states have more, and 36 have fewer.

Minnesota has 87 counties. St. Louis County, which runs from Duluth up to Canada, is larger than the whole state of Connecticut, while Ramsey County, home to the capital, St. Paul, is the smallest by land area. Hennepin County (Minneapolis) has the most people.

How Minnesota's counties were formed

The Minnesota Territorial Legislature created nine counties in 1849. Settlement spread up the rivers and then across the prairie with the railroads, and the northern forests were divided last. Lake of the Woods County, split from Beltrami County in 1922, was the 87th and last. It holds the Northwest Angle, the northernmost part of the lower 48 states.

Minnesota regions and the counties in each

Minnesota is often taught in six regions. The Twin Cities metro includes Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka and Washington counties. The Arrowhead is the northeast tip, with St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties on Lake Superior. Northwest Minnesota includes the flat Red River Valley (Clay, Polk, Kittson) and Lake of the Woods. Central Minnesota holds Stearns (St. Cloud) and the lake country around Brainerd in Crow Wing County. Southwest Minnesota is prairie farmland, and Southeast Minnesota, or Bluff Country, includes Olmsted (Rochester) and Winona along the Mississippi.

Notable places on the Minnesota county map

Eagle Mountain, the state's highest point at 2,301 feet, is in Cook County, not far inland from Lake Superior, the state's lowest point. The Mississippi River starts as a small stream at Lake Itasca in Clearwater County. Voyageurs National Park, a park of lakes on the Canadian border, is in St. Louis and Koochiching counties, and the Mall of America is in Bloomington (Hennepin County).

Minnesota counties map: the biggest and smallest

St. Louis County is the largest county in Minnesota, with 6,248 square miles of land, about 8% of the state. That's more land than the whole state of Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island. Ramsey County is the smallest, at 152 square miles.

The smallest counties by land area are Ramsey County (152 sq mi), Carver County (354 sq mi) and Scott County (356 sq mi).

Which counties in Minnesota have the most people?

Hennepin County has the most people, about 1,273,334 in the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate, or 22% of everyone in Minnesota. The three biggest counties together hold 39% of the state's 5,793,151 people. Traverse County has the fewest, about 3,134.

The most crowded is Ramsey County, with about 3,561 people per square mile. The emptiest is Lake of the Woods County, with about 3 people per square mile. Comparing the two is a quick way to show children that a big county on the map isn't always a big county in people.

What county is Saint Paul in?

Saint Paul, the capital of Minnesota, is in Ramsey County. Ramsey County ranks 2nd of 87 by population. Minnesota is called the North Star State, and it became the 32nd state in 1858.

Counties on the Minnesota border

Learning the edge of the map first gives children a frame to fill in. Minnesota shares a border with Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

How Minnesota's counties compare with other states

Minnesota ranks 14th among the 50 states in land area and 22nd in population. Its average county covers about 915 square miles and holds about 66,588 people. Across the 50 states, the average county-level area covers about 1,139 square miles and holds about 109,381 people, so Minnesota's counties are smaller than usual in size. Small counties pack more names into the same space, so zooming in helps.

Landmarks for learning the counties of Minnesota

• Hennepin and Ramsey counties are the Twin Cities, near the east-central edge.
• St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties form the Arrowhead in the northeast along Lake Superior.
• The Red River forms the western border with North Dakota.

With 87 counties, work one region at a time: study it with names on, then take a Practice round and stop when you've found that group. Then print the Minnesota county map worksheet to check that it sticks on paper.

All 87 Minnesota counties

Every county on the map, A to Z, with its land area and July 2024 population estimate.

Minnesota geography for homeschoolers

Pair this map with the Midwest states and capitals quiz and the US states quiz. If you teach at home, see homeschooling in mn, and check minnesota k-12 education credit to see whether a program may help pay for Minnesota history and geography curriculum. Each program decides what it covers.