St. Paul gained more residents than any other city in the metro area this year — even edging out its bigger twin Minneapolis by 700 people, according to preliminary estimates from the Metropolitan Council.

That’s a rare victory for Minnesota’s capital city, which has seen about 58 percent of the growth Minneapolis has experienced since the 2010 census.

St. Paul gained 4,738 residents last year (from 2016 to 2017), raising its population to 309,180. Minneapolis gained 4,038, raising its population to 423,990 in 2017.

AN INTERACTIVE MAP OF POPULATION CHANGES

Green shows population increases. Red shows population decreases.

But both cities are growing slowly compared with some of the smaller suburbs from 2016-17:

Hanover, in far northwestern Hennepin County, increased from 647 to 747 residents, a 15.5 percent gain.

Lake Elmo increased from 8,748 to 9,481 residents, an 8.4 percent gain.

Bethel increased from 461 to 499 residents, an 8.2 percent gain.

Gem Lake increased from 414 to 447 residents, an 8 percent gain.

On average, the seven-county metro area grew 1.11 percent last year and has grown 8 percent since 2010.

Nearly 40 cities and counties lost residents last year, but Vadnais Heights was the only one to lose more than 200 residents.

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The other two-thirds were split evenly between urban and suburban communities (cities with peak development before 2000) and suburbs on the edge of the metro, which typically have more land available for development, the council said.

Growth in the Twin Cities metro area has been almost solely responsible for population growth in Minnesota since 2010.

Council annual estimates are developed from analysis of additional local information, including housing-stock, occupancy and household sizes. The main driver of gains is new housing units that were permitted and completed and other housing stock changes, according to a spokeswoman. They are different from the U.S. Census Bureau estimates, which will be released later this month.