Hugo is a city 18 miles (29 km) north of downtown Saint Paul in Washington County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 14,767 at the 2020 census. The city lies north of White Bear Lake on the affix of the metropolitan boundary. Hugo and within reach suburbs comprise the northeast share of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the sixteenth largest metropolitan Place in the United States.

The city’s largest lake, Oneka Lake, is named for the Dakota word “onakan,” which means “to strike or knock off,” rice into a canoe. Just south is Rice Lake where Mdewakanton Dakota from Mendota gathered wild rice.

Originally established by French Canadians, Hugo early on established itself as a refueling station for the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad (later the Northern Pacific Railway). Located in Oneka township, the community was first named Centerville Station and finally Hugo. The naming of Hugo is still uncertain. Local histories dwindling 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. Duluth mayor, Trevanion William Hugo, is along with said to have resolved Hugo its name; however, the name “Hugo” was already mammal used by the village say office previously Trevanion Hugo emigrated from Canada. The Oneka Township surrounding the Place was afterward named by the French-Canadians settling the area. Oneka was derived from the Dakota word “onakan” meaning to strike or knock off rice into a canoe. The village incorporated in 1906 and was officially incorporated as a city in 1972. After 2000, Hugo had absorbed significant suburban lump and further to become the successful city it is today.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.02 square miles (93.29 km); 33.45 square miles (86.64 km²) is estate and 2.57 square miles (6.66 km) is water.