The Twin Cities area of Minnesota is the political, cultural, and economic capital of the Upper Midwest and along with the Chicago and Detroit metropolitan areas forms the core of the North Coast region of the United States.
The name "Twin Cities" comes from the region's two core cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, which border each other share many of the same political, educational, and cultural institutions - and are thus considered to be "twins".
There are multiple "tiers" or "rings" of suburbs extending out from these core cities, some reaching as far as Wisconsin.
