After adding over 699,000 new cases throughout the last week, the U.S. now has more than 82.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been more than 990,000 COVID-19-related deaths — the highest death toll of any country.

New cases continue to rise at a steady rate. In the past week, there were an average of 31.1 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 Americans — essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there were an average of 26.7 daily new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people.

While COVID-19 has spread to nearly every part of the country, cities continue to be the sites of major outbreaks. Experts agree that the virus is more likely to spread in group settings where large numbers of people routinely have close contact with one another, such as colleges, nursing homes, bars, and restaurants. Metropolitan areas with a high degree of connectivity between neighborhoods and a large population may be particularly at-risk.

In the 50 largest metro areas, the incidence of coronavirus grew at an average rate of 36.8 new cases a day per 100,000 residents in the past week — 25.1% greater than the case growth in all counties outside of metro areas.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, metro area consists of Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, and 12 other counties. In the past week, there were an average of 39.0 new coronavirus cases every day per 100,000 Minneapolis residents, greater than the national figure. The metro area’s average daily case growth in the most recent week is essentially unchanged from the week prior, when there was an average of 41.6 daily new cases per 100,000 Minneapolis residents.

The spread of coronavirus depends on a variety of factors and can vary even between neighboring counties. Within the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro area, COVID-19 is growing the fastest in Hennepin County. There were an average of 47.0 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in Hennepin County during the past week, the most of the 15 counties in Minneapolis with available data.

Case growth in the Minneapolis metro area varies at the county level. In Le Sueur County, for example, there were an average of 17.6 new cases per day per 100,000 residents in the past week — the least of any county in Minneapolis and more than the case growth rate in Hennepin County.

While Hennepin County is driving the growth of COVID-19 in the Minneapolis area, it does not have the highest incidence of cases overall. As of May 26, there were a total of 25,582.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 residents in Hennepin County, the 13th most of the 15 counties in the metro area. For comparison, the U.S. has so far reported 25,463.1 cases per 100,000 Americans nationwide.

The pandemic has led to the closure of thousands of consumer-facing businesses around the country. These changes have led to widespread job loss and record unemployment. In Hennepin County, unemployment peaked at 10.3% in May 2020. As of June 2021, the county’s unemployment rate was 4.8%.

To determine the county in every metropolitan area where COVID-19 is growing the fastest, 24/7 Wall St. compiled and reviewed data from state and local health departments. We ranked counties according to the average number of new daily COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the seven days ending May 26. To estimate the incidence of COVID-19 at the metropolitan level, we aggregated data up from the county level using boundary definitions from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population data used to adjust case and death totals came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates. Unemployment data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is not seasonally adjusted.

These are all the counties in Minnesota where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).

Rank in MSA	County	Population	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 26	New daily cases per 100,000, week ending May 19	Cumulative cases per 100,000	Cumulative deaths per 100,000
1	Hennepin County	1,245,837	47.0	49.5	25,582.5	208.8
2	Ramsey County	544,442	40.4	41.5	24,088.5	249.1
3	Washington County	255,938	38.1	43.5	27,425.8	189.5
4	Dakota County	421,453	37.8	40.9	27,346.8	184.6
5	St. Croix County	88,732	35.9	57.2	29,248.7	170.2
6	Scott County	145,275	34.1	34.7	28,723.5	180.3
7	Carver County	101,949	33.9	37.0	27,278.3	114.8
8	Anoka County	350,253	31.7	32.0	29,090.7	228.1
9	Mille Lacs County	25,865	31.4	28.4	28,749.3	440.8
10	Chisago County	55,315	27.1	29.4	27,097.5	216.9
11	Isanti County	39,430	27.0	27.4	26,304.8	296.7
12	Wright County	134,438	24.8	24.3	27,891.7	226.9
13	Sherburne County	94,463	24.5	22.7	29,546.0	191.6
14	Pierce County	41,977	23.8	40.5	28,532.3	173.9
15	Le Sueur County	28,242	17.6	17.8	23,504.0	180.6

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