Data Journalist | Data Team

Jeff Hargarten is a Star Tribune journalist at the intersection of data analysis, reporting, coding and design. He covers the environment, elections and public safety.

A Minneapolis native, Hargarten graduated in 2014 from the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication with a professional journalism degree. His past experience includes work for MinnPost, Pioneer Press, News21 and Minnesota Daily.


Minnesota's urban core has boomed. But now momentum is shifting back to the suburbs.

New population estimates show slowed growth for the region and faster growth in farther-out suburbs.


Mpls. shooting death adds to rising attacks on law enforcement

As the city mourns officer Jamal Mitchell, police leaders in Minnesota say his shooting is the symptom of a larger threat.


How popular is your name in Minnesota?

Track the popularity of any first name in Minnesota over the past century.


Amid unsolved Minneapolis homicides, families await justice

A deadly three-year period at the height of the pandemic has left Minneapolis with the most open homicide cases in at least three decades.


In Minnesota, attacks against police are on the rise, especially in domestic assault calls

Reported assaults against police in Minnesota are up 160% from 10 years ago, driven in part by dangerous domestic disturbance calls like the one that ended with two officers and a medic shot to death in Burnsville this week.


In Minneapolis, police staffing levels continued to drop in 2023. So did crime.

Criminologists say police staffing is only one factor in a vast and complicated universe of what drives crime trends in the U.S.


Violent crime begins to ebb in St. Paul after pandemic surge

City leaders hope youth-focused initiatives will contribute further to the slowdown in crime.


Minnesota nitrate contamination shows little sign of going away, despite years of effort

Minnesota has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce nitrate contamination of drinking water and rivers. The progress so far is negligible.


Minneapolis police staff levels hit historic lows amid struggle for recruitment, retention

With 585 sworn officers, the city holds one of the lowest ratios of officers to citizens among many major American cities.


After three violent years, crime is dropping in Minneapolis

Violent crime — murder, aggravated assault, rape and robbery — is down 12% overall from last year to its lowest point of the 2020s so far, the data show. Only a record-breaking surge in auto thefts bucks the pattern.