Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the county seat of Hennepin County. It adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital and second-largest city. Together they form the core of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, the 15th-largest agglomeration in the country (and roughly 65th-largest in the world), with over 3,000,000 residents. In the 2000 census, the city itself had a total population of 382,618, making it the 47th-largest city in the United States. However, in the Census' 2004 estimates, that number had decreased to 373,943, putting it in 49th place, between Honolulu and Colorado Springs. If the two core cities themselves were combined together in the census, the resulting "city" would rank 18th, just between Memphis, Tennessee and Baltimore, Maryland. People living in Minneapolis are called Minneapolitans.

The city is in the southeast portion of the state and sits along the Mississippi River. There are also 24 small lakes in the city. The abundance of lakes led Charles Hoag, an early settler and Minneapolis's first schoolmaster, to suggest a name derived from minne, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city. Other names considered at the time were Brooklyn and Albion. The early use of "Brooklyn" for the then-village lives on into the 21st century in the names of two suburbs north of Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. The city is also known as the "City of Lakes", a phrase that appears on many municipal vehicles and properties. The traditional postal abbreviation for the city's name is Mpls., and much old correspondence can still be found dated from "Mpls., Minn." Once a primary center of the milling industry, Minneapolis is still often known by the appellation Mill City.

The city center is located just south of 45 degrees north latitude. On the south side of Golden Valley Road just east of Wirth Parkway, there is a stone containing a weathered plaque, marking a point on 45th parallel. Metro Area citizens take some pride in being "halfway to the North Pole".

Minneapolis is recognized by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network as a world-class city.