Hugo (/ˈhjuːɡoʊ/ HEW-goh) is a city 18 miles (29 km) north of downtown Saint Paul in Washington County in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

[5] The city lies north of White Bear Lake on the border of the metropolitan boundary.

Hugo and nearby suburbs comprise the northeast portion of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the United States.

Originally settled by French Canadians, Hugo early on established itself as a refueling station for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad (later the Northern Pacific Railway).

[6] Located in Oneka township, the community was first named Centerville Station and finally Hugo.

Local histories point to the French novelist, Victor Hugo, as its namesake due to the abundance of French-Canadian settlers in the area and the writer's tremendous popularity at the time.

Oneka was derived from the Dakota word "onakan" meaning to strike or knock off rice into a canoe.

After 2000, Hugo had absorbed significant suburban growth and development to become the thriving city it is today.

Interstate 35E is not within the city limits, but is heavily used by Hugo residents.

There were 5,189 housing units at an average density of 155.1 per square mile (59.9/km2).

There were 2,174 housing units at an average density of 64.0 per square mile (24.7/km2).