Older, close-in suburbs are poised to reverse long-standing population losses and return to robust growth in coming decades, new Metropolitan Council projections show.
The most explosive growth up to 2040 is expected on the edges of the entire metro area. But older suburbs such as Bloomington, Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and St. Louis Park that lost or barely gained population between 2000 and 2010 will see a major bounceback over the next 25 years, according to council forecasts. Some mature suburbs could grow in size by a third.
The same is true in Ramsey County, where such suburbs as Arden Hills, New Brighton and Roseville that lost population in the last census are forecast to have strong growth.
"People are thinking about location, convenience and being near amenities, and I think these older suburbs do have a lot to offer," said Julie Wischnack, Minnetonka's community development director.
The predictions take into account the advent of the millennial generation as workers, homeowners and parents. Edina, for example, grew by 1 percent between 2000 and 2010 but is forecast to grow by 11 percent by 2040, to about 53,000.
Millennials, those born from the 1980s to about 2000, "will find advantages to living closer to the urban core, in more dense neighborhoods and having access to trails and transit," said Edina City Manager Scott Neal, who has listened to Met Council officials describe their methodology. "We think those are advantages to places like Edina and St. Louis Park and Richfield."
The Met Council's projections in the seven-county metro area help cities with planning and are used to plot and coordinate sewage treatment lines, roads and highways, transit and water needs.
Libby Starling, council manager of regional policy and research, said populations in many inner-ring suburbs have not grown much in recent years because so many homes are still occupied by those who moved in 30 years ago. Those households, now often empty-nester couples, will soon be homes for a new generation of families.