Pedestrian Signal Safety - AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety

BACKGROUND
Minneapolis, in southeastern Minnesota, is situated at the head of navigation for the Mississippi
River and surrounded by a rich agricultural area. St. Paul is adjacent to Minneapolis to the east, as
shown in Figure D-1. Although St. Paul had a slightly smaller in population in 2000 (287,151) than
Minneapolis (382,618), St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota (U.S. Census Bureau State and County
QuickFacts).
Due to the concentration of colleges and universities, a much higher proportion of the population is
between 18 and 34 years old in the Twin Cities than in the state of Minnesota or the United States. As
shown in Table D-1, 35.0 percent of the population of Minneapolis is 18–34; St. Paul is slightly lower
at 29.3 percent. Both of these percentages are considerably higher than the state of Minnesota (23.2
percent) and the United States (23.8 percent).
Due to this high concentration, the proportion of the population age 65 and older is smaller in both
cities. In Minneapolis, 7.4 percent of the population is 65–84. An additional 1.7 percent is older
than 85, meaning that 9.1 percent of the population is older than 65. In St. Paul, 8.5 percent of
the population is 65–84. An additional 1.8 percent is older than 85, totaling 10.3 percent. This is
considerably lower than the state of Minnesota (10.3 percent aged 65–84 and 1.7 percent older than
85) and the Unites States as a whole (10.9 percent aged 65–84 and 1.5 percent older 85, totaling
12.4 older than 65).
Figure D-1. Geographic location of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
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