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In 2002, Minnesota ranked first in the nation in the percentage of people 25 years old who completed high school, 92.2 percent. The state also ranked eighth in the percentage of people who have a bachelor's degree or more, 30.5 percent.
In 2003, Minnesota ranked first in the country in the proficiency of its 8th grade students in math, as measured by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NEAP) test.
Minnesota ranked 7th in the country in the number of students per computer (3.6).
More than 90 percent of the state's residents are within a half-hour drive of a post-secondary institution. In addition to the University of Minnesota, one of the nation's top 20 public universities, Minnesota has 7 state universities, 29 private four-year institutions, 12 private graduate schools, 30 public two-year institutions, and 95 private career schools.

With a per capita of $33,101, Minnesota ranked 9th in the nation.
Minnesota's labor force participation rate of 75.7 percent was the highest in the nation in 2002.

For the past decade, Minnesota has been named one of the Most Livable States in the country by Morgan Quitno Press.
In 2002, Minneapolis-St. Paul had 74.1 percent home ownership, ranking 10th among the 75 largest metropolitan areas in the country. Overall, the state of Minnesota tied for 1st in the nation in home ownership with a rate of 77.3.
According to Morgan Quinto Press, Minnesota ranked as one of the five healthiest states in the country over the last nine years (1996-2004).
Minnesota ranked the second lowest in poverty rates (6.5 percent) nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
Minneapolis has one of the "Hottest" downtowns, according to the April 12, 1999 issue of Newsweek. The article, "At Home in the Big City," noted the nationwide trend toward downtown living and cited Loring Greenway, South Nicollet Mall and the Mill District in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was considered the 15th best city in the country among the 50 best large metro areas to start and grow a company in 2000.
Seventeen Minnesota companies are among the 500 fastest growing technology companies in the country, according to the Deloitte and Touche "Technology Fast 500" 2002 list.
In 2000, Minnesota was the 7th largest producer of agricultural goods in the country.

Minnesota ingenuity has spawned Post-it Notes, Scotch Tape, VCRs, Rollerblades, and synthetic rubber, the first supercomputer and the first Internet browser.
Nearly 3,000 computer-related companies operate in Minnesota, including Imation Corp, Rimage Corp, Seagate Technology Inc., Xerox of the Upper Midwest, XIOtech Corp, Hutchinson Technology Inc., Unisys Corp., Gateway Inc, and IBM Corp.
Several Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in Minnesota including: 3M, Best Buy, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Cenex Harvest States, Ecolab, General Mills, Hormel Foods, Land O'Lakes, Medtronic, Nash Finch, Northwest Airlines, PepsiAmericas, The St. Paul Companies, SuperValu, Target, UnitedHealth Group, U.S. Bancorp, and Xcel Energy.

The great Mississippi River starts its long winding journey in northern Minnesota.
Minnesota has 66 state parks, 58 state forests, and 4,378 campsites, distributed geographically covering more than 3.5 million acres of land.
Although Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," there are actually a total of 11,842 lakes found all over the state.