Apple Valley Relocation Guide

Apple Valley is located 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul and 15 minutes from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Cedar Avenue runs through the heart of Apple Valley, linking with Interstate Highways 35E and 494.

Apple Valley has a population of approximately 50,000 residents and is host to the Minnesota Zoo, ranked among the nation’s best year-round zoos.

Apple Valley is located in northwestern Dakota County in Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities. As of the 2010 census, the city’s population was 49,084, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota. In 2010, Money Magazine named Apple Valley the 20th best place to live in the United States.

Apple Valley was incorporated in 1969, and was previously named Lebanon Township. According to local developer Henry Broback, Lebanon Township was renamed Apple Valley because “…when you drive east on (County Road) 42 and turn to enter Lebanon, it reminded them of Apple Valley, California, which was a nice community.

According to the US Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.57 square miles (45.51 km2), of which 16.86 square miles (43.67 km2) is land and 0.71 square miles (1.84 km2) is water. The city’s geography is rolling, with elevation from the lowest to the highest points in the city varying by a hundred feet or more. The downtown area and its adjacent residential district (which formed the original core of the city when it was incorporated) are in a shallow valley. The first four houses were built by Art and Hank Broback. Orin Thompson contracted a company to determine where the next growth in the Twin Cities would be. It was one-half of a mile from County Road 42 and Cedar Avenue. Thompson bought the first houses and streets from the Brobacks. The firm that selected this area was in Apple Valley, California, so Thompson took that name for the development.

The median income for a household in the city was $76,789, and the median income for a family was $86,874. Males had a median income of $50,636 versus $33,315 for females.