Driven by its diverse economic base, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, known as the Twin Cities, rely on agriculture, biosciences, manufacturing, renewable energy, financial and insurance services, health care services and a vast number of additional industries to maintain its health and vitality. In 2011, Minneapolis-Saint Paul was named among the Best Job Markets in the U.S. by Forbes magazine, and was also ranked in the top 10 largest metro areas in a 2008 POLICOM poll based on economic strength. As of July of 2011, the Twin Cities metro posted a 7.5% unemployment rate.
Minneapolis-Saint Paul is home to 20 of Minnesota’s 21 Fortune 500 companies. Most notably, Minneapolis-Saint Paul is the top rated with respect to the number of Fortune 500 companies per capita, beating likely candidates Houston (2nd), Dallas (3rd), New York (5th), Chicago (7th), and Los Angeles (14th). Among the Twin Cities’ top companies and employers are United Health Group, Target Corporation, SUPERVALU, Best Buy, CHS, 3M, U.S. Bancorp, General Mills, Medtronic, Land O’ Lakes, Ecolab, Nash-Finch, and St. Jude Medical.
The Minneapolis-Saint Paul commercial real estate market contains over 186 million square feet of multitenant office and industrial space. With some positive momentum from 2010, we anticipate vacancy to continue to decrease slightly in the coming months.