2-15-2025 2:33am

Maple Grove Prepares For Growth Of 20,000 People By 2050

Tom Akaolisa Editor

Maple Grove Prepares For Growth Of 20,000 People By 2050

Maple Grove is projected to add nearly 20,000 people to its population over the next 30 years. That’s according to a forecast from the Metropolitan Council.

The overall metro is set to grow by 650,000 people by 2050.

Within the forecast, each city is also set to grow at varying amounts — and Maple Grove comes in at one of the highest.

“The basis of any good planning is some understanding, or some expectations, of what is going to happen in the future,” explained Todd Graham, Met Council’s principal forecaster.

He said Maple Grove’s substantial growth can be attributed to a number of factors, including the real estate market. That’s in line with other cities like Brooklyn Park, which is projected to grow by roughly 18,000.

“Our model does look at the quality of place, the characteristics of communities, the amenities that are there. Accessibility to destination — that it’s easy to get around,” Graham said.

Graham said Maple Grove is classified as a “suburban edge” community. Those cities are expected to have the most household growth in the metro over the next 30 years.

‘Room To Grow’

Joe Hogeboom, Maple Grove’s community and economic development director, said these estimates make sense.

“We are not surprised,” Hogeboom said. “Maple Grove is about 85 percent developed, and so we know that we have room to grow.”

He said the projection of growth, which is marked in 10-year increments on the data, is coming slower than originally projected, but the ending total of 90,200 people is still higher than they anticipated.

Still, Hogeboom said there is plenty of room in the far northwest part of the city and near its downtown. These Met Council studies help his department determine how to develop the city for its growing population. The city also conducts its own 10-year plan.

“We plan — and we plan for infrastructure, we plan our roads, we plan our water, our sewer, utilities, all of that,” Hogeboom said. “So we plan to accommodate all that future growth in Maple Grove.”

It’s clear the city and its developers are expecting a boom: new developments are coming together quickly in the west and northwest regions of the city.

Businesses, like Chipotle, are following suit. With that comes significant expansions to schools within the district.

Besides space for development, Hogeboom’s pitch to the 20,000 expected newcomers: the ever-growing city has lots to offer.

“I really think that it’s due to our great location,” he said. “We also have an abundance of opportunities for jobs for people, opportunities for entertainment, parks. We have great schools.”

The data also includes information about household growth, as well as job growth in each metro city. Those details are available on Met Council’s website at the “Local Forecasts to 2025” page.