Architecture firms in Minneapolis-St. Paul: 266 offices, Minnesota's narrow exemptions and how to shortlist

This page is for owners, developers, public agencies and homeowners choosing an architect in the Twin Cities, for architects and designers weighing local employers, and for companies selling to architecture firms. It covers the Census figures, what Minnesota law requires, how the state selects designers, how to shortlist, and how to prospect.

Twin Cities architecture offices in the Census count

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 counts establishments in NAICS 541310, Architectural Services, in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area (CBSA 33460).

Average pay matches the national figure for the industry, $98,717 (our calculation), but the offices are larger: 2.00% of the nation's architecture jobs sit in 1.17% of its offices.

The Census Bureau doesn't publish the classes above 250 here; the last row is the total less the published classes. There are more offices with 100 to 249 employees (eight) than with 50 to 99 (seven), so a few large practices weigh heavily in this market.

Hennepin, Ramsey and the rest

The unreported counts carry the Census Bureau's high-noise flag: the noise it adds for confidentiality moved them by 5% or more. Hennepin County, home to Minneapolis, has six of the eight offices with 100 to 249 employees and, by the same subtraction, the largest one. St. Paul's Ramsey County offices are almost as large on average.

CBP counts establishments with paid staff, not firms, and leaves out sole practitioners. Around the architects, the metro has 665 engineering offices, 376 commercial and institutional builders (including design-build firms), 213 interior design offices and 60 landscape architecture offices.

Minnesota's short list of exemptions

Minnesota Statutes section 326.03 bars anyone but a licensed architect, engineer, land surveyor, landscape architect or geoscientist from practicing those professions, and anyone not certified from using the title "certified interior designer." Its exceptions let others design only:

1. Single-family dwellings and their outbuildings, such as barns and private garages.
2. Two-family dwellings.
3. Farm buildings and their accessories.
4. Temporary buildings or sheds used only for construction, up to two stories, not used as living quarters.

The board's rules add a narrow allowance by size: Minnesota Rules 1800.5200 exempts new buildings, additions and remodeling in certain occupancy classes that stay within the size, story and basement limits in rule 1800.5900 (for example, an office of up to two stories and 2,250 square feet). Anything larger, including a typical triplex, retail building or office fit-out beyond those limits, needs a licensed professional in Minnesota. Licenses are issued by the Board of Architecture, Engineering, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Geoscience and Interior Design (AELSLAGID); look one up through NCARB's architect lookup, which links to each state's roster, including Wisconsin's for Pierce County.

How the state picks designers for big projects

Under Minnesota Statutes section 16B.33, a state agency undertaking a project estimated at more than $4,000,000, or a planning project with fees over $400,000, must ask the state Designer Selection Board for a primary designer. The board has seven members: nominees of the Consulting Engineers Council of Minnesota, AIA Minnesota, the Minnesota chapter of the Associated General Contractors and the Minnesota Board of the Arts, a representative of the user agency, and two citizen members. Once the board selects a designer, the commissioner of administration negotiates the fee. The University of Minnesota and Minnesota State follow the same thresholds.

Shortlisting a Twin Cities architect

AIA Minnesota's firm directory lists member-owned firms with the share of their work by project type, for example 90% single-family residential. That makes it a quick filter.

1. Filter by project type in the directory and note firms where your type is a large share of the work.
2. Check licenses for the architect who will sign the drawings.
3. Visit two buildings each finalist designed.
4. Ask about delivery. If a construction manager will advise you during design, AIA's B132-2019 is the owner-architect agreement written for that; otherwise B101-2017 is the standard form.

AIA Minnesota, AIA Minneapolis and pay

AIA Minnesota, founded more than 121 years ago, has local chapters including AIA Minneapolis, which describes itself as the largest in the state with more than 1,600 members, and AIA St. Paul. Its job listings are on the same site. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2025 estimates for the metro:

Architects are 1.46 times as concentrated in the metro's workforce as nationally. SEC records show no listed architecture company based in the metro.

Selling to Twin Cities architecture firms

The 230 offices with fewer than 20 employees are principal-run. The 36 with 20 or more have studio leaders, a technical director and operations staff, with partners signing. The calendar matters here: the Minnesota Conference on Architecture runs November 9 to 11, 2026 at the Depot Renaissance Hotel in downtown Minneapolis, offers up to 15 professional development hours and has an exhibit hall of 115 vendors.

Illustrative example. The company, numbers and results are invented.

North Star Glazing Reps (northstarglazing.example) represents window and curtain wall manufacturers. It targets Hennepin and Ramsey offices with 10 or more employees, 58 by the county detail, and invites each firm's technical director to a one-hour continuing education session at their office. Booking 14 sessions and getting specified on three projects would justify the fall's work. Knowing which firms have the right building types in design is the research that makes the invitation land, and Bebop does it for each account in a list.

Subject: [firm] and curtain wall details, before A'26

Hi [first name],

Ahead of the Minnesota Conference on Architecture, we're offering a one-hour continuing education session on [cold-climate curtain wall detailing] at your office, for your project teams.

We've seen [project] and think the [detail or condition] would make a good worked example.

Would [two dates] work? If not, we'll be at the exhibit hall on November 10.

[Your name]
[Company], [postal address]

Next step: see the region's contractors in construction companies in Minneapolis.