CODE

Demographics of Somali ancestry in the United States

Description: This is an R script that uses the tidycensus package to get data on Somali ancestry in the United States by geographies from the 2020 Decennial Census.

Script last run: 2025-12-14 15:24:33.393811

Primary sources

Setup

library(tidycensus)
library(tidyverse)
library(knitr)
library(kableExtra)

# You'll need your own Census API key
# census_api_key("YOUR_KEY_HERE", install = TRUE)

National

By state

somali_by_state <- get_decennial(
  geography = "state",
  variables = "T01001_001N",
  year = 2020,
  sumfile = "ddhca",
  pop_group = "1325"
)

total_by_state <- get_decennial(
  geography = "state",
  variables = "P1_001N",
  year = 2020,
  sumfile = "pl"
)

state_data <- total_by_state %>%
  left_join(somali_by_state %>% select(GEOID, somali_count = value), by = "GEOID") %>%
  mutate(
    `percent_somali` = somali_count / value * 100
  ) %>%
  select(NAME, total_population = value, somali_count, percent_somali) %>%
  filter(somali_count >= 1) %>%
  arrange(desc(percent_somali))

state_data %>%
  kable(format = "markdown") %>%
  kable_styling()
NAME total_population somali_count percent_somali
Minnesota 5706494 91111 1.5966196
North Dakota 779094 2058 0.2641530
Maine 1362359 3443 0.2527234
Ohio 11799448 26160 0.2217053
Washington 7705281 16931 0.2197324
Nebraska 1961504 3788 0.1931171
Vermont 643077 740 0.1150718
Oregon 4237256 3777 0.0891379
Kentucky 4505836 3907 0.0867098
Missouri 6154913 4350 0.0706752
Utah 3271616 2128 0.0650443
Colorado 5773714 3663 0.0634427
South Dakota 886667 556 0.0627067
Massachusetts 7029917 4184 0.0595171
Wisconsin 5893718 3502 0.0594192
Arizona 7151502 3924 0.0548696
Iowa 3190369 1670 0.0523450
Alaska 733391 376 0.0512687
Virginia 8631393 4243 0.0491578
Tennessee 6910840 3180 0.0460147
Georgia 10711908 3725 0.0347744
Kansas 2937880 993 0.0337999
New York 20201249 6505 0.0322010
District of Columbia 689545 192 0.0278444
Idaho 1839106 473 0.0257190
New Hampshire 1377529 314 0.0227944
Maryland 6177224 1239 0.0200576
Texas 29145505 5824 0.0199825
Michigan 10077331 1979 0.0196381
California 39538223 7750 0.0196013
Illinois 12812508 1844 0.0143922
Pennsylvania 13002700 1751 0.0134664
North Carolina 10439388 1399 0.0134012
Nevada 3104614 374 0.0120466
Indiana 6785528 816 0.0120256
Connecticut 3605944 349 0.0096785
Rhode Island 1097379 64 0.0058321
New Mexico 2117522 81 0.0038252
South Carolina 5118425 194 0.0037902
New Jersey 9288994 303 0.0032619
Delaware 989948 32 0.0032325
Oklahoma 3959353 127 0.0032076
Wyoming 576851 18 0.0031204
Hawaii 1455271 45 0.0030922
Louisiana 4657757 141 0.0030272
Florida 21538187 615 0.0028554
Alabama 5024279 120 0.0023884
Mississippi 2961279 63 0.0021275
Montana 1084225 17 0.0015679
Arkansas 3011524 46 0.0015275
West Virginia 1793716 26 0.0014495
Puerto Rico 3285874 27 0.0008217

Minnesota

By city

somali_by_place <- get_decennial(
  geography = "place",
  variables = "T01001_001N",
  state = "MN",
  year = 2020,
  sumfile = "ddhca",
  pop_group = "1325"
)

total_by_place <- get_decennial(
  geography = "place",
  variables = "P1_001N",
  state = "MN",
  year = 2020,
  sumfile = "pl"
)

place_data <- total_by_place %>%
  left_join(somali_by_place %>% select(GEOID, somali_count = value), by = "GEOID") %>%
  mutate(
    `percent_somali` = somali_count / value * 100
  ) %>%
  select(NAME, total_population = value, somali_count, percent_somali) %>%
  filter(somali_count >= 1) %>%
  arrange(desc(percent_somali))

place_data %>%
  kable(format = "markdown") %>%
  kable_styling()
NAME total_population somali_count percent_somali
Waite Park city, Minnesota 8341 1590 19.0624625
Pelican Rapids city, Minnesota 2577 359 13.9309274
St. Cloud city, Minnesota 68881 7515 10.9101204
Faribault city, Minnesota 24453 2328 9.5203043
Willmar city, Minnesota 21015 1991 9.4741851
Columbia Heights city, Minnesota 21973 1942 8.8381195
Hopkins city, Minnesota 19079 1269 6.6512920
Minneapolis city, Minnesota 429954 26082 6.0662303
Burnsville city, Minnesota 64317 3809 5.9222290
Hilltop city, Minnesota 958 56 5.8455115
East Grand Forks city, Minnesota 9176 469 5.1111595
Savage city, Minnesota 32465 1416 4.3616202
Falcon Heights city, Minnesota 5369 216 4.0230955
Eden Prairie city, Minnesota 64198 2474 3.8537026
Fridley city, Minnesota 29590 1110 3.7512673
Spring Lake Park city, Minnesota 7188 268 3.7284363
St. Joseph city, Minnesota 7029 239 3.4001992
Rochester city, Minnesota 121395 3954 3.2571358
Shakopee city, Minnesota 43698 1387 3.1740583
North Mankato city, Minnesota 14275 450 3.1523643
St. Peter city, Minnesota 12066 373 3.0913310
St. Paul city, Minnesota 311527 9601 3.0819159
Bloomington city, Minnesota 89987 2773 3.0815562
Marshall city, Minnesota 13628 406 2.9791606
Owatonna city, Minnesota 26420 787 2.9788039
Roseville city, Minnesota 36254 893 2.4631765
St. Anthony city (Hennepin and Ramsey Counties), Minnesota 9257 216 2.3333693
Lexington city, Minnesota 2248 51 2.2686833
Mankato city, Minnesota 44488 1004 2.2567883
Apple Valley city, Minnesota 56374 1263 2.2403945
Dilworth city, Minnesota 4612 94 2.0381613
Moorhead city, Minnesota 44505 900 2.0222447
Lauderdale city, Minnesota 2271 45 1.9815059
Richfield city, Minnesota 36994 729 1.9705898
Eagan city, Minnesota 68855 1307 1.8981919
New Brighton city, Minnesota 23454 411 1.7523663
Newport city, Minnesota 3797 65 1.7118778
Chaska city, Minnesota 27810 443 1.5929522
St. Louis Park city, Minnesota 50010 781 1.5616877
New Hope city, Minnesota 21986 310 1.4099882
Brooklyn Park city, Minnesota 86478 1192 1.3783853
Minnetonka city, Minnesota 53781 670 1.2457931
Brooklyn Center city, Minnesota 33782 382 1.1307797
Edina city, Minnesota 53494 602 1.1253599
Robbinsdale city, Minnesota 14646 155 1.0583094
Maplewood city, Minnesota 42088 428 1.0169169
Blaine city, Minnesota 70222 704 1.0025348
Woodbury city, Minnesota 75102 740 0.9853266
Eagle Lake city, Minnesota 3278 32 0.9762050
Vadnais Heights city, Minnesota 12912 122 0.9448575
North St. Paul city, Minnesota 12364 106 0.8573277
Mounds View city, Minnesota 13249 113 0.8528946
Plymouth city, Minnesota 81026 624 0.7701232
Coon Rapids city, Minnesota 63599 485 0.7625906
Prior Lake city, Minnesota 27617 196 0.7097078
Lakeville city, Minnesota 69490 489 0.7036984
Wayzata city, Minnesota 4434 31 0.6991430
Rosemount city, Minnesota 25650 178 0.6939571
Lino Lakes city, Minnesota 21399 130 0.6075050
Circle Pines city, Minnesota 5025 28 0.5572139
Oakdale city, Minnesota 28303 157 0.5547115
Carver city, Minnesota 5829 31 0.5318236
Crystal city, Minnesota 23330 123 0.5272182
Nowthen city, Minnesota 4536 23 0.5070547
Golden Valley city, Minnesota 22552 114 0.5054984
Inver Grove Heights city, Minnesota 35801 180 0.5027793
Chanhassen city, Minnesota 25947 128 0.4933133
Medina city, Minnesota 6837 32 0.4680415
West St. Paul city, Minnesota 20615 94 0.4559787
Maple Grove city, Minnesota 70253 303 0.4312983
Waseca city, Minnesota 9229 38 0.4117456
Shoreview city, Minnesota 26921 109 0.4048884
Little Falls city, Minnesota 9140 37 0.4048140
Ramsey city, Minnesota 27646 110 0.3978876
South St. Paul city, Minnesota 20759 75 0.3612891
Little Canada city, Minnesota 10819 38 0.3512339
White Bear Lake city, Minnesota 24883 75 0.3014106
Anoka city, Minnesota 17921 48 0.2678422
Cottage Grove city, Minnesota 38839 103 0.2651974
Lake Elmo city, Minnesota 11335 26 0.2293780
Hastings city, Minnesota 22154 50 0.2256929
Fergus Falls city, Minnesota 14119 30 0.2124796
Champlin city, Minnesota 23919 47 0.1964965
Bemidji city, Minnesota 14574 28 0.1921230
Mendota Heights city, Minnesota 11744 22 0.1873297
Sartell city, Minnesota 19351 32 0.1653661
Elk River city, Minnesota 25835 39 0.1509580
Farmington city, Minnesota 23632 33 0.1396412
Albert Lea city, Minnesota 18492 22 0.1189704