A succession of migratory waves began in the 17th and 18th centuries with the arrival of the Dakota and Ojibwa, among other Indian groups, followed during the 19th century by New England Yankees, Germans, Scandinavians, and finally southern and eastern Europeans. Especially since 1920, new arrivals from other states and countries have been relatively few, and the state experienced a net loss from migration of 80,000 between 1970 and 1980. The trend was almost halted in the 1980s when immigration nearly equaled emigration. Between 1990 and 1998, Minnesota had net gains of 71,000 in domestic migration and 47,000 in international migration. In 1998, 6,981 foreign immigrants entered the state. Minnesota's overall population increased 8% between 1990 and 1998.
Within the state, there has been a long-term movement to metropolitan areas, especially to the suburbs of major cities; from 1970 to 1983, the state's metropolitan population grew by nearly 1% annually. The urban population increased from 66.8% to 69.9% during the 1980s and, leveling off somewhat, ranged between 68.8% and 69.7% in the 1990s. From 1980 to 1990, the population of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area grew 15.5%; it grew another 8.9% between 1990 and 1996. In the period 1995–2000, 355,250 people moved into the state and 326,081 moved out, for a net gain of 29,169, of whom were from Wisconsin.