Meet the people moving to Minnesota

Back in the 1990s, Minnesota was gaining population from other places in the U.S. But in recent years, that trend reversed, and now more people leave Minnesota for other states each year than move here.

The net loss is a concern to state officials who want to fill jobs. So, this month, the state’s tourism office Explore Minnesota launched a first-ever advertising campaign encouraging people in other parts of the country to resettle in Minnesota.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about what’s drawing people to Minnesota — from job seekers to climate refugees to people attracted to the state’s more liberal laws and policies — and what life is like for them once they get here.

Guests:  

• Lauren Bennett McGinty is the executive director of Explore Minnesota, the state tourism agency. Earlier this month, the agency launched a new national advertising campaign to encourage people to move to Minnesota. 

• Sapna Kumar is a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. She moved to Minnesota last summer from Texas after spending 15 years as a professor at the University of Houston Law Center in Texas. Her work focuses on intellectual property rights and patent law.  

• Kat Skinner is among several new Minnesotans featured in Explore Minnesota's new advertising campaign designed to lure new residents to the state. After working as glass artists in several cities, including Chicago and Corning, New York, she and her husband recently moved to Minnesota to join the artisan glass lighting company, Hennepin Made.

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.