Demographics of Areas Near Southwest LRT
April 2014
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Contents 1 Project Description ...... 1 2 Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension) Corridor Demographics ...... 1 3 Household Income ...... 2 4 Race and Ethnicity ...... 2 5 Employment ...... 5
1 Project Description The 15.8-mile Southwest LRT Project will extend the Green Line (Central Corridor LRT) from downtown Minneapolis through the rapidly growing communities of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie. This area, known as the Southwest Corridor, contains a concentration of businesses including several of the state’s largest employers. Southwest LRT will be part of an integrated system of transitways, including connections to the METRO Blue Line, the Northstar Commuter Rail line, bus routes and proposed future transitways.
Above: The Southwest LRT route as adopted by the Metropolitan Council on April 9, 2014.
2 Southwest LRT (Green Line Extension) Corridor Demographics In terms of race, ethnicity and income, the Southwest LRT corridor as a whole is generally similar to Hennepin County and is both more diverse and less well-off than the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.
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Several station areas (Target Field, Royalston, Van White and Downtown Hopkins) are relatively diverse and relatively low-income.
The Eden Prairie Town Center and Southwest station areas are the most diverse Southwest LRT station areas in terms of race and ethnicity (49% people of color and 40% foreign-born), but are socioeconomically comparable to the region as a whole.
3 Household Income Two definitions of “low income” are commonly used in determining low-income status: 1) a household income less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI); and, 2) a household income less than 150% of the poverty threshold. The Metropolitan Council has used both measures in examining the potential benefits of Southwest LRT.
Nearly one-third of households in the corridor (29%, almost 17,000 households) have incomes less than 60 percent of AMI (Twin Cities region: 27%).
Roughly one-fifth of the corridor population (20%, more than 22,000 people) have family incomes less than 150 percent of the federal poverty threshold (Twin Cities region: 17%).
Several station areas (defined as Census tracts within one mile of a planned station) have particularly high numbers of low-income residents, including Royalston, Van White, Blake Road, Downtown Hopkins and Shady Oak Road.
4 Race and Ethnicity Members of racial and ethnic minorities comprise 27 percent of the corridor’s population, a higher percentage than the Twin Cities region as a whole (24 percent).
More than 16,000 people who identify themselves as members of a racial or ethnic minority reside within one-half mile of a Southwest LRT station site.
Higher concentrations of minority residents are found near LRT station sites throughout the corridor. Station areas where the proportion of minority residents exceeds the regional average include:
Target Field (37%) Royalston (41%) Van White (42%) Blake Road (38%) Downtown Hopkins (28%) Opus (26%) Eden Prairie Town Center (49%) Southwest (49%)
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Twin Cities Region: 17 %
SWLRT 20%
Mitchell Rd. Station 9%
Southwest Station 15%
Eden Prairie Town Center … 19%
Golden Triangle Station 11%
City West Station 6%
Opus Station 19%
Shady Oak Rd. Station 23%
Hopkins Station 27%
Blake Rd. Station 27%
Louisiana Ave. Station 18%
Wooddale Ave. Station 17%
Beltline Blvd. Station 14%
West Lake St. Station 11%
Penn Ave. Station 17%
Van White Blvd. Station 33%
Royalston Ave. Station 33%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Above: Percentage of people along the SWLRT route with incomes less than 150% of poverty threshold.
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Twin Cities Region: 27 % SWLRT 29%
Mitchell Rd. Station 12%
Southwest Station 20%
Eden Prairie Town Center … 27%
Golden Triangle Station 18%
City West Station 13%
Opus Station 25%
Shady Oak Rd. Station 32%
Hopkins Station 37%
Blake Rd. Station 33%
Louisiana Ave. Station 25%
Wooddale Ave. Station 27%
Beltline Blvd. Station 26%
West Lake St. Station 20%
Penn Ave. Station 25%
Van White Blvd. Station 47%
Royalston Ave. Station 41%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Above: Percentage of households along the SWLRT route with income less than 60% of Area Median Income.
The station areas with the largest non-white populations (Southwest and Eden Prairie Town Center) are located in Eden Prairie; these stations also have the highest percentages of residents born outside the U.S.
Southwest LRT will serve multiple Racially Concentrated Areas of Poverty (RCAPs), defined by the Metropolitan Council as census tracts where at least 40 percent of the population has an income less than 185 percent of the poverty threshold and people of color make up at least 50 percent of the population. Southwest LRT runs less than two miles from the South Minneapolis RCAP and along the southeastern 4 edge of the North Minneapolis RCAP. Continuing along the Green Line, LRT service goes through the northern edge of the South Minneapolis RCAP and through the St. Paul RCAP.
5 Employment Downtown Minneapolis is the region’s largest employment center, with nearly 150,000 jobs. In addition, economic development throughout the Southwest Corridor has created employment concentrations along the entire Southwest LRT route:
West Calhoun area (Minneapolis): 4,200 jobs Beltline business park (St. Louis Park): 6,000 jobs Methodist Hospital (St. Louis Park): 5,200 jobs East End Hopkins (incl. Cargill HQ and Supervalu distribution center): 5,000 jobs K-Tel Drive industrial park (Hopkins): 3,500 jobs Opus business park (Minnetonka): 11,000 jobs UnitedHealth Group campus (Eden Prairie): 6,700 jobs Golden Triangle business park (Eden Prairie): 18,000 jobs Highway 212 corridor (Eden Prairie): 16,000 jobs
Continuing along the Green Line offers direct access to additional employment concentrations:
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis): 15,000 jobs Downtown St. Paul: 72,000 jobs
Strong growth in biomedical industries and education (“meds and eds”) is projected for the Southwest Corridor. Numerous businesses involved in biomedical, high-technology manufacturing, transportation and logistics sectors are already located in the corridor. A concentration of biomedical and high- technology businesses in Eden Prairie includes Alliant Techsystems, Emerson Process Management and Eaton as well as subsidiaries of global technology giants Oracle and Dell.
Fortune 500 employers located along the Southwest LRT line include UnitedHealth Group, Target Corporation, Supervalu, U.S. Bancorp, Xcel Energy, Ameriprise Financial, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Thrivent Financial and Ecolab.
Low-wage workers, who are more likely to be dependent on transit for access to employment, will benefit from Southwest LRT. The line traverses the major workplaces of low-wage workers who live along the line and is very close to the major residence areas of people who work in low-wage jobs along the line.
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Above: Job concentrations along the Southwest LRT and Green Line.
The commuteshed for low-wage jobs along Southwest LRT and the Green Line – showing the primary workplaces of low-wage workers who live along Southwest LRT – indicates that job concentrations in St. Louis Park and Hopkins are important in addition to downtown Minneapolis.
Nearly 36,000 low-wage jobs exist within one-half mile of a planned Southwest LRT station, and nearly 7,400 low-wage workers live in these areas. Low-wage jobs are distributed along the entire Southwest LRT line, and are most prevalent in the Royalston, City West, Louisiana, Shady Oak Road and Downtown Hopkins station areas. The largest numbers of low-wage workers are in the Royalston, Blake, Beltline, Wooddale and Downtown Hopkins station areas.
Workers seeking to improve their employment prospects through education and training will benefit from transit access to Dunwoody Institute of Technology, University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, Hamline University and St. Paul College, all of which are located near Southwest LRT or Green Line stations.
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Above: Commuteshed for low-wage jobs along Southwest LRT and the Green Line.
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