Economy of Minnesota
|
|
| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| GDP | $333.267 billion |
|
GDP per capita
|
$47,500 (2013) |
|
Population below poverty line
|
11.5% (2013) |
| 0.4436 (2011) | |
|
Labor force
|
2,995,400 (December 2014) |
| Unemployment | 3.6% (December 2014) |
| Public finances | |
| Revenues | $20,181.8 million (2013) |
| Expenses | $18,739.5 million (2013) |
The economy of Minnesota produced US$312 billion of gross domestic product in 2014.Minnesota headquartered 31 publicly traded companies in the top 1,000 U.S. companies by revenue in 2011. This includes such large companies as Target, and UnitedHealth Group. The per capita personal income in 2004 was $36,184, ranking eighth in the nation. The median household income in 2013 ranked eleventh in the nation at $60,900.
Minnesota's economy has transformed in the past 200 years from one based on raw materials to one based on finished products and services.
The earliest industries were fur trading and agriculture. Agriculture is still a major part of the economy even though only a small percentage of the population, less than 1% are employed in the farming industry.
Minnesota is the U.S.'s largest producer of sugar beets, sweet corn, and green peas for processing and farm-raised turkeys. State agribusiness has changed from production to processing and the manufacturing of value-added food products by companies such as General Mills, Cargill, Hormel Foods Corporation (prepackaged and processed meat products), and the McDonald Food Company.
Forestry, another early industry, remains strong with logging, pulpwood processing, forest products manufacturing, and paper production. The amount of forested land in the state is declining, from 16.7 million acres (68,000 km²) in 1990 to 16,200,000 acres (66,000 km2) in 2004; however, the average forest is maturing. From 1999 to 2004 the average annual growth within the state was 550 million board-feet (1,300,000 m³) of timber, while the average amount harvested was only 330 million board-feet (780,000 m³) per year.
Minnesota was famous for its soft-ore iron mines which produced a significant portion of the world's iron ore for over a century. Although the pure ore is now depleted, taconite mining remains strong using processes developed locally to save the industry. In 2004 the state produced 75 percent of the usable iron ore in the country.3M (formerly Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.) today is a diversified manufacturer of industrial and consumer products. The port of Duluth was created by the mining boom and today continues to be an important shipping port for the Midwest's agricultural and ore products.
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