Coates is a town in the U.S. state of Minnesota located west of the Upper Mississippi River on the exurban fringe in central Dakota County.

[4] It is named for Civil War Captain Henry C. Coates who served in the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.

Postal Service now designates addresses as part of the larger nearby city of Rosemount.

The city of Coates was officially incorporated in 1953 at the northwest corner of Vermillion Township.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.41 square miles (3.65 km2), all land.

The racial makeup of the city was 94.48% White, 0.61% Native American, 4.29% Asian, and 0.61% from two or more races.

About 5.3% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under the age of eighteen or sixty five or over.