Like Brooklyn Park? Minnetonka Will Be That Big in 2040

Minnetonka residents are in the midst of a debate about what type of community they want to live in. But if the Metropolitan Council is correct, locals have one type of future ahead of them: big.

Preliminary Met Council estimates released Wednesday predict that Minnetonka’s population will grow by 50 percent between 2010 and 2040—from 49,734 all the way up to 74,700 people.

How big is that? Right now, just four cities in the metro have that many people—Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington and Brooklyn Park. In fact, present-day Brooklyn Park, with a 2010 population of 75,781, is within spitting distance of where forecasters expect Minnetonka to end up.

If that happens, population density will climb from 1,776 people per square mile in 2010 to 2,668 in 2040.

Meanwhile, Hennepin County as a whole is expected to grow 34 percent.

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.