Business leaders from across the state gathered this week to discuss several factors impeding Minnesota’s economy and how to course-correct for the future.

Wednesday’s annual Compete event, hosted by Greater MSP, the Minneapolis Regional Chamber and the St. Paul Area Chamber, sent a message to attendees: Slowing economic growth is holding Minnesota families and communities back.

“Minnesota’s economy used to be something that we celebrated,” said Mike Logan, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber, at Wednesday’s event. “Now, the reality is that our current pace is a challenge that needs to be addressed.”

Data from the 2026 MSP Regional Indicators dashboard, which tracks dozens of metrics across the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, confirms that the Twin Cities is trailing behind other regions in important categories.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area ranks 35th in the nation for yearly job growth, according to the report. As a state, Minnesota ranks 43rd for new businesses established per 1,000 residents.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, which ranks 15th by population, was measured against other areas including Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Kansas City, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn and Milwaukee-Waukesha.

The report also found that the metro area’s unemployment rate is on the rise, ranking 13th in the nation, which is down nine spots compared to last year.

Venture capital is also down about $363 million compared to last year, with Minneapolis-St. Paul ranked 19th in the nation.

Affordability issues

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area ranks 25th in the nation for affordability, putting it behind Dallas (20th), Austin (13th), Columbus (6th) and Kansas City (3rd).

“Over the past two decades while the typical American household saw real income growth by up to $13,000, Minnesota households gained only about half as much, and for many of our diverse communities, even less,” said Aarica L. Coleman, president and CEO of Land Bank Twin Cities.

Less than half of workers in the metro area earn a family-sustaining wage, according to the report, which ranks the Twin Cities 36th in the nation. For a local family with two adults and two children, the report estimates a family-sustaining wage in 2026 to be $33.86 per hour or about $70,000 annually.

As a state, Minnesota ranks 39th in the nation for median cost of childcare at $20,592, up $171 from the previous year.

If Minnesota had kept pace with the rest of the nation, “the typical family would be earning roughly $9,000 more every year,” Coleman said. “That could help with child care. That could be paying down debt or boosting retirement.”

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The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area ranks 31st in the nation for median rent. The study lists a 2-bedroom apartment at $1,676 per month, which it says is up $60 compared to the previous year.

The Twin Cities metro is in the middle of the pack for median home purchase price, which the report lists at $400,400, an $11,000 increase compared to the year before.

“We need to make building housing more affordable. We need to make starting businesses more affordable,” said D’Angelos Svenkeson, CEO of NEOO Partners Inc. “But we know affordability is only half the equation,” he said, adding that the other half is made up of earnings, income and “building community wealth.”

Coleman put it plainly: “Slower growth means slower wage growth, and slower wage growth makes affordability even harder.”

High quality of life

While there is work to be done to attract and retain workers in the state, business leaders pointed to several metrics where the Twin Cities is among those leading the nation.

The Twin Cities metro ranks first for six-year graduation rates at four-year institutions with 76.3% and boasts a high school graduation rate of 84.9%, per the report.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area ranks 10th in the nation for arts and entertainment jobs per 10,000 residents, putting it ahead of New York City and Seattle.

Workers in the Twin Cities metro have some of the shortest commutes in the nation, with the 9th-highest share of workers commuting less than 30 minutes to work. The report also notes that nearly 90% of metro-area residents live within a 10-minute walk to a park.

Minneapolis-St. Paul also has the 12th-highest life expectancy rate in the nation at 80.8 years, per the report.

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“The legacy economy built in another era isn’t keeping pace with our peers,” said Peter Frosch, president and CEO of Greater MSP. “We don’t just need to get back on track, we need to build something better than we’ve had before.”

So, what does that look like?

“Focusing on the fast-growing parts of the global economy where Minnesota has the assets to compete,” Frosch said, identifying several industry sectors including medical tech, clean energy, protein sustainability and soil health, semiconductors and data centers and AI integration and manufacturing automation.

“The goal is to become a national and global leader in the areas that are important to us,” he said.