Our football blog series is back! Like last year, we’re using the football season as an impetus to ask ourselves how we stack up against other, similar regions. How does Ann Arbor compare to other college towns in the US?
It’s November, and the time change is coming this weekend (can’t wait for sunnier mornings and that extra hour of sleep!). This Saturday Michigan is set to play Minnesota – in the battle of the U of Ms!
Because of its size and several decades of history prior to the addition of other campuses, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (sometimes abbreviated UMTC) is what most people think of upon hearing “University of Minnesota”. It can actually be subdivided into multiple parts. Most significantly, Minneapolis and neighboring Saint Paul (actually, the suburb of Falcon Heights) each have distinct campuses. The Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses are connected via a dedicated bus transit-way. The buildings on each campus are connected by a series of underground tunnels and above-ground skyways. The Minneapolis portion is the largest and has a number of colleges dedicated to a variety of subjects.
Contextual setting for this week’s comparison:
- Population: we included the population of both Minneapolis and Falcon Heights – since the university is located in both municipalities.
- This means that the total population of the cities within which UMTC sits are nearly 4 times the size of Ann Arbor. Minneapolis/St. Paul is big, you guys.
- The whole Twin Cities metro area includes about 3.5 million people, the third largest in the midwest (behind Detroit and Chicago).
- The size of the city also makes UMTC a college in a big city, not necessarily a “college town” – Minneapolis has a thriving economy and a few very prominent Fortune 500 companies call it home (including Target).
ICYMI – Here are links to this year’s series on our athletic (and economic) competition!
- Ann Arbor vs. Colorado Springs
- Ann Arbor vs. West Lafayette
- Ann Arbor vs. East Lansing
- Ann Arbor vs. Bloomington
- Ann Arbor vs. State College
- Ann Arbor vs. New Brunswick
