Need Advice! (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Eagan: houses, rent, lease)

[Carmie66]

Hello! Thank you for reading my post. I will be moving to the area in July. My husband will be attending the U Minnesota Minneapolis campus and working in west St. Paul. I wanted advice on an area to live which would be centraly located and have great schools. I have a son who will be in first grade and a daughter who will be in pre-school. Thanks!

[Carmie66]

Also, I need a good map with neighborhoods on it. If anyone could let me know where to get one that would be great. Thanks

[golfgal]

Clarify what you mean by west St. Paul--in the city of West St. Paul itself or on the west side of St. Paul? They are next to each other but very different communities. If you are actually working in West St. Paul, live right there, the schools are very good in West St. Paul and it is a pretty easy commute to the U. If you are working on the west side of St. Paul, I would probably still live in West St. Paul since it is so close. If you can tell us where your job is we can be more specific.

[Carmie66]

He will be working on S Wabasha St, in zip code 55107. If that helps. I didn't realize how much I really don't know until I was reading the post's about the west side of SP verses west SP.

[golfgal]

Ok, that is on the west side of St. Paul but still in downtown St. Paul. I still think that West St. Paul, 55118 or Mendota Heights area near West St. Paul is a good option. It is a quick hop over the Smith Ave (High) Bridge, no traffic, easy, simple commute. Stay south of Annapolis St. in West St. Paul and West of Smith Ave and you will find nice houses. Look for something in the 199 schools and that will direct you to the right areas.

The whole West St. Paul and west SIDE of St. Paul thing is very confusing.

[rodhaenke]

I would recommend Highland Park area of St. Paul - nice area in the city and schools are fine. He can bike to both school and work easily and it is a great city neighborhood. If you come out to the suburbs, well, you know, it is the suburbs.

[Lillietta]

The cutoff between West Saint Paul and the West Side of Saint Paul is the street called Annapolis.

[Carmie66]

Thanks all, for replying! Is Highland Park the area around the golf course? The map I have does not have all neighborhoods identified, but it does have zipcodes.

What about Falcon Heights, Roseville, St. Anthony or Inver Grove Heights

[golfgal]

Highland Park is a nice area but you have to deal with the St. Paul city schools and there are better choices available in less expensive areas of the metro. Falcon Heights and Roseville are ok areas, again, better schools can be found.

How far do you want the commute? Inver Grove is a very convienent area but I would stick with West St. Paul or Mendota Heights because the schools are better.

Eagan is another option, either the 199 schools or especially the 196 schools. I would stay away from the Burnsville district that has the western part of Eagan.

I would also stay away from Cottage Grove, Newport and Woodbury (South Washington County Schools).

[Carmie66]

Well, I think I got it. I found a map on the Dept of Education website which has all the districts geographically. The confusion I had was, that where I live, the city or county is the district. So a county may have 20 some elementary schools and you would just attend the closest one. Also, there is no choice. Can you clarify how that works, please?