Burnsville is a city 15 miles south of downtown Minneapolis in Dakota County in the State of Minnesota. The city lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. Burnsville and nearby suburbs form the southern portion of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, the fifteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.6 million residents. According to the 2020 census, the population is 64,317.
Burnsville is home to a regional mall, a section of Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve, 310-foot vertical ski peak Buck Hill, and part of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Originally, the land Burnsville is located on was a village of Mdewakanton Dakota. Later, it became a rural Irish farming community. Burnsville became the tenth largest city in Minnesota in the 2000 Census following the construction of Interstate 35. Currently the ninth largest suburb in the metro area and a bedroom community of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the city was fully built by the late 2000s. Burnsville's downtown area is called Heart of the City with urban-style retail and condominiums.