Bloomington is the fifth largest city, as of 2018 estimates, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in Hennepin County on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River. Bloomington lies 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census the city's population was 89,987.Bloomington was established as a post–World War II housing boom suburb connected to the urban street grid of Minneapolis and is serviced by two major freeways: Interstate 35W and Interstate 494. Large-scale commercial development is concentrated along the Interstate 494 corridor. Besides an extensive city park system, with over 1,000 square feet (93 m2) of parkland per capita, Bloomington is also home to Hyland Lake Park Reserve in the west and Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in the southeast. Bloomington has more jobs per capita than either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, due in part to the United States' largest enclosed shopping center, Mall of America. The headquarters of Ceridian, Donaldson Company, HealthPartners, and Toro, and major operations of Pearson, General Dynamics, Seagate Technologies, Express Scripts and Wells Fargo Bank are also based in the city. The city was named after Bloomington, Illinois.

Edina ( (listen) ee-DY-nə) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. Edina began as a small farming and milling community along Minnehaha Creek in the 1860s and became one of Minneapolis's first incorporated suburbs in 1888. In 2019, the population was estimated to be 52,857. After years of being a streetcar suburb, Edina grew into a prototypical post-war suburb in the 1950s. The city was largely built to be car-centric and plays host to the nation's oldest indoor mall, the Southdale Center. The object of white flight from Minneapolis, Edina embraced sundown laws and racial covenants to keep the community white and wealthy. By the late 1990s, Edina had garnered a negative reputation as a predominantly wealthy community and as a center of conservative sentiment in traditionally liberal Minnesota. Since 2000, Edina has become increasingly diverse and progressive. No longer a Republican stronghold, the city is represented at the state and national levels by DFLers. Major corporations, such as Dairy Queen, Great Clips, Edina Realty, and Caribou Coffee, have made their headquarters in Edina, and the city today is known for its shopping, parks, and high quality of life.

This is a list of lakes of Minnesota. Although promoted as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", Minnesota has 11,842 lakes of 10 acres (4.05 ha) or more. The 1968 state survey found 15,291 lake basins, of which 3,257 were dry. If all basins over 2.5 acres were counted, Minnesota would have 21,871 lakes. The prevalence of lakes has generated many repeat names. For example, there are more than 200 Mud Lakes, 150 Long Lakes, and 120 Rice Lakes. All but four of Minnesota's 87 counties (Mower, Olmsted, Pipestone and Rock) contain at least one natural lake. Minnesota's lakes provide 44,926 miles of shoreline, more than the combined lake (~32,000 mi) and coastal (3,427 mi) shorelines of California. Lakes whose coordinates are included below are visible in linked OSM map.

Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a major metropolitan area built around the confluence of the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers in east central Minnesota. The area is commonly known as the Twin Cities after its two largest cities, Minneapolis, the most populous city in the state and home of the largest university in the state, and Saint Paul, the state capital, which directly borders Minneapolis to the east. It is an example of twin cities in the sense of geographical proximity. Minnesotans often refer to the two together (or the seven-county metro area collectively) simply as "the Cities". There are varying definitions what should be considered the "Twin Cities". Many refer to the "Twin Cities" as the seven-county region which is governed under the Metropolitan Council regional governmental agency and planning organization. The United States Office of Management and Budget officially designates 15 counties as the "Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington MN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area", the 16th largest metropolitan statistical area with a population of 3,690,261 according to 2020 census estimate. The larger 21-county Minneapolis–St. Paul MN–WI Combined Statistical Area, which is also the 16th largest, has a population of 4,046,181 according to 2020 census estimates. The two cities are independent municipalities with defined borders. Minneapolis sits mostly on the west side of the Mississippi River, and is somewhat more modern with a relatively young downtown and trendy uptown. Saint Paul, which sits mostly on the east side of the river, has been likened to an East Coast city, with quaint neighborhoods, a vast collection of well-preserved late-Victorian architecture, and a large number of colleges.Originally inhabited by Ojibwe and Dakota groups, the cities were subsequently settled by many groups of Europeans. Minneapolis was influenced by early Scandinavian and Lutheran settlers, while Saint Paul was settled predominantly by French, Irish and German Catholic communities. Today, the cities are home to large immigrant communities, including Somali, Hmong, Oromo, and Liberian groups.