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Cities of Minnesota

Minnesota cities are wonderful places to live, to work, and to play. In this area of our web site, the League highlights information and interesting tidbits about cities.

Award-Winning Cities

Money's 100 Best Places to Live
Eden Prairie (population 64,000) ranked No. 1 on Money magazine’s 2010 100 Best Places to Live in America. This year the annual rankings focused on cities with populations of 50,000 to 300,000. Reasons for the honor include Eden Prairie’s family-friendly environment and strong economy. “At 5.1 percent, its unemployment rate is nearly one percentage point below the county rate and more than four points below the national average. It helps when you’ve got 50,000 jobs right in town,” the report stated. The report also cited the city’s parks, walking/biking trails, and other outdoor amenities; low crime rate; and top-notch schools. Plymouth (population 76,000) was also honored, ranking at No. 11.

2010 MAGC Northern Lights Awards
The Minnesota Association of Government Communicators (MAGC) sponsors the Northern Lights Contest annually to recognize outstanding work in government communications. Cities that took home awards in 2010 were: Bloomington, Burnsville, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Edina, Fridley, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, St. Louis Park, St. Paul, Savage, and Shoreview.

Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention
St. Anthony Village was one of six recipients of the 2009-2010 Governor’s Award for Pollution Prevention, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced in July. The city was honored for its innovative collection of filter backwash water, which is waste byproduct from the city’s wastewater treatment and stormwater runoff. This water is then used to irrigate a 20-acre site that includes a municipal park and City Hall. Prior to this project, the city used 5 million gallons from the treated municipal water supply each year to irrigate the area. The volume of water discharged from the site has been cut by more than 90 percent during the growing season. Phosphorus is reduced because it is captured by plants instead of running off as pollution. This project will be a demonstration site for future water reuse projects.