Anyone Moving Out Of Minnesota? Why? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: rental, crime rates, credit)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Irish40

........and I have no trouble making small talk with people. However, when it comes to trying to form friendships, native Minnesotans just are not that interested.

In 2008, people all across the USA are so busy. If they have Kid's (like we do) they are in sports, band, Church confirmation, etc. Just about every single night is booked with one child let alone two or (how do they do it) three. Your "friends" are those people that you meet at the soccer field week after week and create small talk. Sometimes it might mature to getting together for dinner while you wait for that 2 hour practice. When the next sporting season rolls in, you re-engage with your other "friends" and will only say high to that 1st group when you see them inline at the bank to catch-up.

This is what it is like everywhere because as a society, we stuff little Johnny in every conceivable band or sporting camp to make him "better". We all know this isn't too healthy but we do it anyways.

Think about it a little longer.... This has NOTHING to do with if someone is from MN or not. There isn't some secret handshake or "MN Native meter" that we walk around with to sort out where you originated from. It's simple, we are soooo busy that we work at fitting in those long term friends that we see only twice a year because their Kid's are also incredibly busy. It takes the DH about 10 emails to find one measly weekend to get together. So in 2008, it takes work to stay connected. Generally speaking, I have not "added" any true friends in 10 years because of this.

If you came from a state and found friends much easier to make, you simply found a group of people that weren't so busy. If this doesn't apply to you (running into busy people) and you are still assuming it is a MN secret society sort of thing, it might be your personality or you are trying too hard.

My advice: Go to spots that people show that they have a lot of time on their hands like Church groups, volunteering committees, hobbies such as softball, bowling, hockey leagues, cooking classes, health clubs where people have routines etc. Maybe offer to help someone with your trade for free. That is how you get closer to a Minnesotan or for that matter, a New Yorker.

[nbus5]

Originally Posted by Hoosier

I have lived in Minnesota for 4 years and was raised in Indiana. I love it here. I think Minnesota is far better than Indiana in many respects. Now mind you I've also lived in 11 other states and Europe and for me personally I have found Minnesota to be refreshing. I love the cold weather and overall climate. The people, while definitely Minnesota Nice, it is tough to find friends that haven't lived here all their lives. But truly that is almost anyplace you go. When we lived in Portland, Oregon we found the exact same thing...people who lived there forever and were not welcoming. It simply exists everywhere.

Now with all that said the only reason I would move from Minnesota is the outrageous housing costs and overally cost of living is expensive.

Cost of living expensive in Minnesota? You are kidding, right? Easily one of the most affordable places in the country.

[fitra]

[quote=sushigirlie;1766984]You will hear a few people on this forum telling you otherwise, but that's because they lived in MN all their life and don't know what it's like to own a passport.
QUOTE]

Haha ~ that's funny. The furthest most have gone is up north.

[fitra]

Originally Posted by lamexican

Lived there briefly! Hated it! The only positive is the size of the Msp metro! People sucks, culture sucks, food scene sucks, art scene sucks, weather sucks! Basically Msp sucks! You will like it if you like living in a city that all you like doing is complaining about where you live and going up nort on weekends! I left out the h of north on purpose! All they do there is complain and go up north on the weekends!

That is hilarious!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by nbus5

Cost of living expensive in Minnesota? You are kidding, right? Easily one of the most affordable places in the country.

Compared to many spots in CA, yes, MN is affordable but taxes are high, housing costs are high, but then again, you get what you pay for too. MN is 11th in overall tax burden for the US, CA is 12th.

[nbus5]

Golfgal - I guess I developed my answer based on my experience of living in Minnesota. I am from Mahtomedi and lived in Rochester after college. In Rochester, I was paying 400/month for my portion of a 3 bedroom, compared to 1000/month for my portion of a 2 bedroom in Los Angeles. Maybe my view of affordable living is a bit skewed, lol.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by nbus5

Cost of living expensive in Minnesota? You are kidding, right? Easily one of the most affordable places in the country.

After moving from the Twin Cities to the Atlanta metro, I really didn't see much difference except for housing (which was far less expensive in the Atlanta metro ... perhaps 20-30% less expensive ... back in 2004).

Just out of curiosity, I ran a comparison on various cost of living comparison web sites (assuming a $50,000 yearly salary) to see what they had to say about the Twin Cities and Atlanta. The two metro areas are somewhat similar in many respects -- smaller inner urban core with suburban sprawl, many corporate headquarters, and roughly the same size (Twin Cities 3.5 million, Atlanta 5.5 million).

CNNMoney's comparison site says this:

If you move from Marietta, GA to Minneapolis, MN....
Groceries will cost: 21% more
Housing will cost: 45% more
Utilities will cost: 11% more
Transportation will cost: 1% less
Healthcare will cost: 1% less

If you move from Atlanta, GA to Minneapolis, MN....
Groceries will cost: 12% more
Housing will cost: 42% more
Utilities will cost: 10% more
Transportation will cost: 2% less
Healthcare will cost: 5% more

However,Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitors sites is not allowed says the following:

Minneapolis is 9% cheaper than Atlanta.
Housing is the biggest factor in the cost of living difference.
Housing is 39% cheaper in Minneapolis.

This one says:

Equivalent income in the city you're moving to: $56,012.17.
Percent increase to maintain standard of living: 12.02%.

and provides a bunch of stuff which seems roughly in-line with my own personal experience. So who knows?

I know some areas on the east and west coasts are significantly more expensive than either Atlanta or the Twin Cities, and suburbs will also vary, so it probably depends on which specific areas of the country ... and which specific cities ... you're comparing.

[whatever]

I'm gonna give you a reputation bump just for bringing so much data to the party

Nice work

[StPaulEastSider]

Although much improved in the past 20 years, especially in the urban areas, Minnesota is still very, very WHITE.

My husband is black and grew up in Georgia - we are considering moving our family of six to Georgia after 15 years in Minnesota [where I was born and raised] because we want our children to experience more middle-class black culture than Minnesota has to offer...

Unfortuantely, predominately black neighborhoods in Minnesota are also some of the most economically depressed areas of the Twin Cities.

Can anyone here name a predominately black MIDDLE CLASS neighborhood ?

There are African-Americans in the middle and upper-middle class in Minnesota, but they tend to be sprinkled far and wide throughout the suburbs.

My husband misses the culture of the south - he especially misses easy accessibility to predominately African-American culture.

As a family have sought out racially diverse communities, and we make a point to attend African-American cultural events, such as plays, in the Twin Cities... but it takes a lot of deliberate planning and effort to expose our children to a middle-class African-American culture in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota "NICE" covers a lot... but not all... racism.

We have had the unfortunate experience in Minnesota of being close acquaintances with people for YEARS before discovering their "true attitudes" towards non-whites...

Comments such as "I like your husband - he's not like most black guys" are the type of "minnesota-nice" comments which very thinly veil the racist attitudes and ignorance of many Minnesotians.

When we were living in Georgia we often knew where we stood with others regarding our status as a bi-racial couple... I guess I prefer outright racism to "Minnesota Nice"...

THE SNOW and BELOW ZERO weather... this is something else we are more than willing to leave behind!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by StPaulEastSider

Can anyone here name a predominately black MIDDLE CLASS neighborhood ?

I don't think you'll find such a thing anywhere except the southern US, mainly because other areas simply don't have the population to support such a thing. Maybe some of the very large cities like Chicago and NewYork, too.