Summary

The migration of Somalis to Minnesota has created stark socioeconomic disparities in a region once known for its egalitarianism. This report documents the struggles of the Minnesota Somali population, now numbering over 75,000, in an otherwise high-achieving state. Among the findings:

• More than half (52 percent) of children in Somali immigrant homes in Minnesota live in poverty, while only 8 percent of children in native-headed homes are in poverty.
• One in eight children in poverty in Minnesota lives in a Somali immigrant home.
• About 39 percent of working-age Somalis have no high school diploma, compared to just 5 percent of natives.
• Among working-age adult Somalis who have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years, half still cannot speak English “very well”.
• About 54 percent of Somali-headed households in Minnesota receive food stamps, and 73 percent of Somali households have at least one member on Medicaid. The comparable figures for native households are 7 percent and 18 percent.
• Nearly every Somali household with children (89 percent) receives some form of welfare.
• Although Somalis have recently been implicated in welfare fraud, any population with poverty rates as high as theirs will qualify for extensive means-tested aid. The best way to reduce immigrant consumption of welfare is not simply to crack down on fraud, but to reduce the number of new arrivals who have low earning power.

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