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Demographics of Woodbury, MN
Affluence Level in Woodbury, MN
An upper-middle-class area. Household wealth, education levels, and homeownership run ahead of national benchmarks.
People of Woodbury, MN
Woodbury, Minnesota, is a predominantly white, highly educated suburban city of 76,945 residents, where 63.2% of adults hold a college degree. The city’s identity is shaped by its rapid post-1960s growth as a planned suburb of Saint Paul, attracting families seeking good schools and low crime. Its population is notably diverse for the region, with significant East/Southeast Asian (8.0%) and Indian-subcontinent (4.2%) communities, alongside smaller Black (6.8%) and Hispanic (4.7%) populations. The foreign-born share is a modest 3.9%, reflecting a city built largely by domestic in-migration rather than international immigration.
How the city was settled and grew
Woodbury was originally settled in the 1840s by European-American farmers, primarily of German and Scandinavian descent, drawn by the fertile land of the St. Croix River valley. The area remained rural for over a century, with the first wave of non-farm residents arriving after World War II. The key turning point came in 1967, when the city incorporated and adopted a master-planned growth model. Early subdivisions like Woodbury Heights and Valley Creek were built in the 1970s and 1980s, attracting young families from Saint Paul and the surrounding metro area. These neighborhoods were overwhelmingly white, reflecting the broader Twin Cities’ demographics at the time. The city’s population grew from just 1,200 in 1960 to over 20,000 by 1990, driven by the expansion of Interstate 94 and the development of corporate campuses like 3M’s headquarters in nearby Maplewood.
Modern era (post-1965)
After the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, Woodbury began to see modest diversification, though the city remained overwhelmingly white through the 1990s. The major demographic shift occurred after 2000, as the Twin Cities’ technology and healthcare sectors expanded. The Woodbury Lakes and Preserve neighborhoods, built in the 2000s and 2010s, attracted a wave of East/Southeast Asian professionals—many of Hmong, Vietnamese, and Chinese descent—who were drawn to the area’s top-rated schools in the South Washington County School District. Simultaneously, the Bailey’s Grove and Red Rock subdivisions saw an influx of Indian-subcontinent families, particularly those working in engineering and IT at companies like 3M, Boston Scientific, and Ecolab. The Black population, while smaller at 6.8%, is concentrated in newer developments near the Woodbury Village area, reflecting a mix of African American professionals and African immigrants. Hispanic residents, at 4.7%, are more dispersed but have a visible presence in the service and construction sectors. Notably, the city’s Asian and Indian communities remain largely separate in residential patterns, with East/Southeast Asian families clustering in the eastern and southern parts of the city, while Indian families are more common in the central and western neighborhoods.
The future
Woodbury’s population is projected to continue growing slowly, reaching roughly 85,000 by 2040, as available land for new housing diminishes. The city is not homogenizing; rather, it is tribalizing into distinct enclaves based on ethnicity and income. The East/Southeast Asian and Indian communities are both growing, but at different rates: the Indian population is expanding faster due to H-1B visa holders and their families, while the Asian population is plateauing as second-generation families move to newer suburbs like Lake Elmo and Cottage Grove. The white population, while still the majority at 71.7%, is aging and declining in share as younger white families choose more affordable exurbs. The Black and Hispanic populations are expected to grow modestly, but Woodbury’s high housing costs (median home price above $400,000) will limit significant influx from lower-income groups. The city is likely to become more diverse but also more economically stratified, with new developments like Woodbury Central Park attracting affluent professionals of all backgrounds, while older neighborhoods like Woodbury Heights remain predominantly white and established.
For a conservative-leaning mover today, Woodbury offers a stable, family-oriented environment with excellent schools and low crime, but it is no longer the homogeneous suburb of the 1980s. The city is becoming a mosaic of distinct ethnic and economic enclaves, where newcomers will find neighbors who share their background in specific neighborhoods. The key question for a prospective resident is not whether Woodbury is diverse, but which Woodbury—the established white neighborhoods, the growing Asian enclaves, or the newer Indian-subcontinent communities—best fits their priorities.
* Values derived from national, state, county, city and local statistics and may differ in a specific area. Last updated: 2026-04-24T06:38:16.000Z
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