Research, public-record analysis
Law offices per older resident, by Minnesota county
Using Census Bureau counts of law-office establishments and of residents 65 and older, we compare how many law offices each Minnesota county has per 10,000 older residents. It describes where offices are located. It does not say whether anyone can or cannot get a lawyer.
Collected . Last updated . Not yet reviewed by Minnesota counsel. Download the data (CSV)
Draft for human review. This study was run by AI-assisted scripts on public files. No person has reviewed it, and no Minnesota lawyer has reviewed it. It is general information, and no firm is ranked or recommended.
What we found
- Statewide there were 2,020 law-office establishments with payroll in 2023 and 1,023,662 residents 65 and older in July 2023, or 19.7 offices per 10,000 older residents.
- The seven Twin Cities metro counties had 28.8 offices per 10,000 older residents. The other 80 counties together had 10.7. The middle county in Greater Minnesota had 9.5.
- 24 of 87 counties had no law-office establishments in the Census file, all in Greater Minnesota. They hold 51,863 residents 65+ (5.1% of the state's). Counties with fewer than 2,000 residents 65+ had 2.2 offices per 10,000, and counties with 10,000 or more had 24.
This counts office locations. It does not show whether a resident can or cannot find a lawyer, because lawyers serve clients across county lines, by phone and by video, and the count leaves out solo lawyers with no payroll.
Chart: law offices per 10,000 residents 65 and older
Law offices per 10,000 residents 65 and older: Twin Cities metro 28.8, Greater Minnesota 10.7. Offices March 2023, population July 2023.
Law offices per 10,000 residents 65 and older, by county size: under 2,000 residents 65+ 2.2; 2,000 to 4,999 9.1; 5,000 to 9,999 9.8; 10,000 or more 24.
Map: where the offices are
Map of Minnesota's 87 counties shaded by law offices per 10,000 residents 65 and older. 24 counties: none reported; 9 counties: under 8; 25 counties: 8 to under 12; 20 counties: 12 to under 16; 9 counties: 16 and over. The table of all 87 counties below gives each value.
- None reported(24 counties)
- Under 8(9 counties)
- 8 to under 12(25 counties)
- 12 to under 16(20 counties)
- 16 and over(9 counties)
Offices are Census law-office establishments with payroll, March 2023. Residents 65+ are July 2023 estimates. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau, public domain. A shaded county shows where offices are, not whether people there can reach a lawyer.
Summary table
| Group | Counties | Law offices (2023) | Residents 65+ (July 2023) | Offices per 10,000 residents 65+ | Counties with none reported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 87 | 2,020 | 1,023,662 | 19.7 | 24 |
| Twin Cities metro | 7 | 1,472 | 510,390 | 28.8 | 0 |
| Greater Minnesota | 80 | 548 | 513,272 | 10.7 | 24 |
| Counties with under 2,000 residents 65+ | 16 | 5 | 22,931 | 2.2 | 15 |
| Counties with 2,000 to 4,999 | 26 | 76 | 83,532 | 9.1 | 8 |
| Counties with 5,000 to 9,999 | 26 | 181 | 185,207 | 9.8 | 1 |
| Counties with 10,000 or more | 19 | 1,758 | 731,992 | 24 | 0 |
All 87 counties
| County | Region | Residents 65+ | Law offices | Per 10,000 residents 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aitkin | Greater MN | 5,626 | 3 | 5.3 |
| Anoka | Metro | 59,584 | 42 | 7 |
| Becker | Greater MN | 8,304 | 5 | 6 |
| Beltrami | Greater MN | 8,366 | 9 | 10.8 |
| Benton | Greater MN | 6,043 | 4 | 6.6 |
| Big Stone | Greater MN | 1,389 | None reported | 0 |
| Blue Earth | Greater MN | 10,914 | 23 | 21.1 |
| Brown | Greater MN | 5,787 | 9 | 15.6 |
| Carlton | Greater MN | 6,950 | 7 | 10.1 |
| Carver | Metro | 16,806 | 24 | 14.3 |
| Cass | Greater MN | 8,712 | 8 | 9.2 |
| Chippewa | Greater MN | 2,692 | 3 | 11.1 |
| Chisago | Greater MN | 10,408 | 9 | 8.6 |
| Clay | Greater MN | 9,500 | 11 | 11.6 |
| Clearwater | Greater MN | 1,852 | None reported | 0 |
| Cook | Greater MN | 1,803 | None reported | 0 |
| Cottonwood | Greater MN | 2,649 | None reported | 0 |
| Crow Wing | Greater MN | 17,065 | 24 | 14.1 |
| Dakota | Metro | 73,646 | 132 | 17.9 |
| Dodge | Greater MN | 3,493 | 3 | 8.6 |
| Douglas | Greater MN | 9,892 | 15 | 15.2 |
| Faribault | Greater MN | 3,399 | 3 | 8.8 |
| Fillmore | Greater MN | 4,821 | 6 | 12.4 |
| Freeborn | Greater MN | 7,306 | 8 | 10.9 |
| Goodhue | Greater MN | 10,210 | 9 | 8.8 |
| Grant | Greater MN | 1,467 | None reported | 0 |
| Hennepin | Metro | 204,343 | 891 | 43.6 |
| Houston | Greater MN | 4,445 | 4 | 9 |
| Hubbard | Greater MN | 6,023 | 3 | 5 |
| Isanti | Greater MN | 7,606 | 8 | 10.5 |
| Itasca | Greater MN | 11,900 | 13 | 10.9 |
| Jackson | Greater MN | 2,390 | 3 | 12.6 |
| Kanabec | Greater MN | 3,724 | None reported | 0 |
| Kandiyohi | Greater MN | 9,224 | 12 | 13 |
| Kittson | Greater MN | 1,039 | None reported | 0 |
| Koochiching | Greater MN | 3,382 | None reported | 0 |
| Lac qui Parle | Greater MN | 1,878 | None reported | 0 |
| Lake | Greater MN | 3,106 | None reported | 0 |
| Lake of the Woods | Greater MN | 1,060 | None reported | 0 |
| Le Sueur | Greater MN | 5,611 | 3 | 5.3 |
| Lincoln | Greater MN | 1,405 | None reported | 0 |
| Lyon | Greater MN | 4,643 | 6 | 12.9 |
| Mahnomen | Greater MN | 962 | None reported | 0 |
| Marshall | Greater MN | 2,106 | None reported | 0 |
| Martin | Greater MN | 4,917 | 5 | 10.2 |
| McLeod | Greater MN | 7,526 | 8 | 10.6 |
| Meeker | Greater MN | 5,102 | 5 | 9.8 |
| Mille Lacs | Greater MN | 5,171 | 8 | 15.5 |
| Morrison | Greater MN | 7,541 | None reported | 0 |
| Mower | Greater MN | 7,458 | 10 | 13.4 |
| Murray | Greater MN | 2,210 | 3 | 13.6 |
| Nicollet | Greater MN | 6,265 | 6 | 9.6 |
| Nobles | Greater MN | 3,790 | 8 | 21.1 |
| Norman | Greater MN | 1,365 | None reported | 0 |
| Olmsted | Greater MN | 28,556 | 43 | 15.1 |
| Otter Tail | Greater MN | 15,822 | 11 | 7 |
| Pennington | Greater MN | 2,695 | 4 | 14.8 |
| Pine | Greater MN | 6,880 | 6 | 8.7 |
| Pipestone | Greater MN | 1,951 | None reported | 0 |
| Polk | Greater MN | 6,003 | 7 | 11.7 |
| Pope | Greater MN | 2,963 | 4 | 13.5 |
| Ramsey | Metro | 87,598 | 265 | 30.3 |
| Red Lake | Greater MN | 916 | None reported | 0 |
| Redwood | Greater MN | 3,409 | 6 | 17.6 |
| Renville | Greater MN | 3,270 | None reported | 0 |
| Rice | Greater MN | 11,537 | 17 | 14.7 |
| Rock | Greater MN | 1,994 | 5 | 25.1 |
| Roseau | Greater MN | 3,050 | 3 | 9.8 |
| Scott | Metro | 20,378 | 17 | 8.3 |
| Sherburne | Greater MN | 13,136 | 9 | 6.9 |
| Sibley | Greater MN | 3,023 | None reported | 0 |
| St. Louis | Greater MN | 43,917 | 51 | 11.6 |
| Stearns | Greater MN | 26,764 | 50 | 18.7 |
| Steele | Greater MN | 7,333 | 7 | 9.5 |
| Stevens | Greater MN | 1,724 | None reported | 0 |
| Swift | Greater MN | 2,306 | 3 | 13 |
| Todd | Greater MN | 6,081 | 4 | 6.6 |
| Traverse | Greater MN | 840 | None reported | 0 |
| Wabasha | Greater MN | 5,256 | 5 | 9.5 |
| Wadena | Greater MN | 2,897 | 4 | 13.8 |
| Waseca | Greater MN | 3,700 | 5 | 13.5 |
| Washington | Metro | 48,035 | 101 | 21 |
| Watonwan | Greater MN | 2,327 | 3 | 12.9 |
| Wilkin | Greater MN | 1,286 | None reported | 0 |
| Winona | Greater MN | 9,641 | 10 | 10.4 |
| Wright | Greater MN | 21,373 | 27 | 12.6 |
| Yellow Medicine | Greater MN | 2,125 | None reported | 0 |
Question, sample and how items were counted
- Question
- Where in Minnesota are law offices located, compared with where older residents live?
- Sample
- All 87 Minnesota counties. Law offices come from the Census Bureau's County Business Patterns 2023 (employer establishments classified as Offices of Lawyers, NAICS 541110, reference date March 12, 2023). Older residents (65+) come from the Census Bureau's county population estimates for July 1, 2023.
- Who is included
- Every Minnesota county is included. A county with no row in the Census file is counted as having no reported law-office establishments. The Twin Cities metro is the seven Metropolitan Council counties (Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington). All other counties are Greater Minnesota.
- Method
- A script downloads the two Census files, keeps the Minnesota rows and saves a SHA-256 hash of each download. A second script divides law offices by residents 65 and older (per 10,000) for each county and for groups of counties, and writes the CSV.
Limitations
- The count covers all law offices that have employees, in every practice area. It is not a count of estate-planning or probate lawyers.
- Solo lawyers with no payroll are not in the count. In smaller counties, where solo practice is more common, the count is likely to be low.
- Offices are counted where the office is. Lawyers often serve clients in other counties and by phone or video, so a county with few offices is not necessarily a county without access.
- A county shown with no offices means none was reported in the Census file. It does not mean no lawyer lives or works there.
- Offices per older resident says nothing about quality, price, availability or how many people need a lawyer.
- Law offices are from March 2023 and population is from July 2023. Both are the latest versions we could download on the collection date.
What we could not collect
Probate case filings by county
The Minnesota Judicial Branch (mncourts.gov) answered every request with a bot-check page, which we did not try to get around.
Court filing fee schedule and self-help resources
Same bot-check page on mncourts.gov.
Lawyers by county and practice area from lawyer registration data
The Minnesota lawyer registration and Lawyers Board sites were not reachable, and a public bulk file with practice areas was not found. Registration data does not record practice areas in any case.
Bureau of Labor Statistics lawyer employment by area
The BLS site returned an access-denied page to our request.
Solo practitioners without employees
The Census nonemployer file does not break out lawyers at county level.
The Census Bureau's data API
It requires a key, so we used the public bulk files instead.
Sources and files
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, county file, NAICS 541110 (Offices of Lawyers)
- U.S. Census Bureau, Annual County Resident Population Estimates by Age and Sex, vintage 2024 (cc-est2024-agesex-all), July 1, 2023 estimate
- Data for every row in this study: law-offices-per-older-resident.csv
- Every figure is computed by a script from saved copies of these files.
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