Is This Crime Map of Minneapolis Accurate? (St. Paul: 2015, hotel)

[Atalanta]

The crime maps are only as accurate as the person putting the info in.

I have known of crimes that happened and never seen them on any crime map.

[ellysbelly]

Where will you be working and what's your max acceptable commute (in time)? Do you have kids that will be attending schools? Will you be renting or buying-- and what is your budget?

And, to answer your question about crime, I previously lived in NYC-- I don't find (the vast majority) of MSP to be unsafe.

[SmoothOperator545]

Originally Posted by ellysbelly

Where will you be working and what's your max acceptable commute (in time)? Do you have kids that will be attending schools? Will you be renting or buying-- and what is your budget?

And, to answer your question about crime, I previously lived in NYC-- I don't find (the vast majority) of MSP to be unsafe.

I'm not 100% sure where I'll be working but my background is in hospitality so I'll probably be looking for a fairly upscale restaurant to work in. Given that most of those seem to be in Uptown or Downtown, I suppose that's the prime area I'm focused on.

For commute times, I plan to bike pretty much every day, but I also am a fast biker and can cover a lot of distance quick. From some tooling around I did on Google Maps, it looks like pretty much anywhere in the inner ring suburbs and maybe even a bit further out than that is fine.

We plan on renting for awhile, at least until we're totally financially stable and know we'll be settling there permanently. After that, we'll definitely buy a home. Estimating budgets is tricky since I don't have a job lined up yet but for now the lower the rent, the better, simply so we can save money. Assuming I can find an equivalent or better position in Minneapolis, I should be able to afford $1000 a month at the least, but like I said, less would be preferable if possible without living in a bad area.

We do not have kids yet but we absolutely plan on it, but that probably won't be for another 3-5 years at least.

[Ursicinus]

Well, unfortunately the $1000/mo rent thing may be hard to find, at least in areas that don't show up on the crime maps. If you can budget a few hundred more, you should be good to go. Unless you know a friend of a friend of a friend or whatever, finding a cheap rental can be nearly impossible, even in the bad (crime-wise) areas.

As far as area, I know you were mentioning Dakota or Scott counties in the other thread about biking, but... I'd personally recommend you look into St. Louis Park or Hopkins. Unlike south of the river where you'd have to piece together spurts of a 10 mile bike ride that may or may not be feasible year round, both SLP and Hopkins have dedicated bike-only trails like I was mentioning in the other thread going right through them, and you could get to work in Downtown or Uptown Minneapolis no problem all year round (as long as you're dressed accordingly ).

[SmoothOperator545]

Originally Posted by Ursicinus

Well, unfortunately the $1000/mo rent thing may be hard to find, at least in areas that don't show up on the crime maps. If you can budget a few hundred more, you should be good to go. Unless you know a friend of a friend of a friend or whatever, finding a cheap rental can be nearly impossible, even in the bad (crime-wise) areas.

As far as area, I know you were mentioning Dakota or Scott counties in the other thread about biking, but... I'd personally recommend you look into St. Louis Park or Hopkins. Unlike south of the river where you'd have to piece together spurts of a 10 mile bike ride that may or may not be feasible year round, both SLP and Hopkins have dedicated bike-only trails like I was mentioning in the other thread going right through them, and you could get to work in Downtown or Uptown Minneapolis no problem all year round (as long as you're dressed accordingly ).

We're not looking for much in terms of rentals, a one bedroom in a decent area is all we want. I did a bit of browsing on Craigslist and it looks like there are such options in my price range, but you're right that a few hundred more opens up many more possibilities. This is all still a bargain for me though, coming from NYC where you'd be lucky to get a studio for $1000 a month, even in a bad area.

From what you and others have been saying, it does look like Scott and Dakota are out for now. Shame, they looked quite nice.

[Ursicinus]

Originally Posted by SmoothOperator545

We're not looking for much in terms of rentals, a one bedroom in a decent area is all we want. I did a bit of browsing on Craigslist and it looks like there are such options in my price range, but you're right that a few hundred more opens up many more possibilities. This is all still a bargain for me though, coming from NYC where you'd be lucky to get a studio for $1000 a month, even in a bad area.

From what you and others have been saying, it does look like Scott and Dakota are out for now. Shame, they looked quite nice.

Just make sure to do your due diligence with Craigslist. I've used it to find 2 out of the last 4 places I've lived in the Cities, but there are so many fakes/phishing scams on there it can be quite a chore.

I hear you on the modest needs thing, but what was so frustrating for me with the rental market here is that if you do some digging, yeah you can find a livable 1 BR in a nice area.... but if you add another, say, 200, you might find a nice duplex or single-family in a nice area. It would be an easier decision if they weren't so close in price.

[ellysbelly]

Check padmapper.com-- it works best from a laptop, doesn't work well from a phone or a tablet. While $1000 might prove challenging, you only need ONE place to live not dozens--- you might get lucky and find a great and safe place for your budget. I also agree with staying in SLP or Hopkins rather than south of the river, if possible for a variety of reasons.

Someone a few weeks ago posted a link to a place that had 1 bedrooms for $850ish (I can't recall who posted or where the apartment was located, sorry)-- but it was definitely relatively recently and it was either in Minneapolis or close in, if I recall correctly.

[PullMyFinger]

I think a graph would be more accurate. It would correspond with when Bike Lane Betty and her band of misfits took over the city. It's shocking the difference from now to even 5 years ago.

[mhays25]

Downtowns tend to be safe, but look bad because the stats are based on land area or resident population only. A true per-capita analysis would include hotel guests, worker population, shoppers, etc., whoever is around at a given time of day -- a huge increase in the denominator. But that would be hard to do, so these things tend to be half-assed.

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Downtowns tend to be safe, but look bad because the stats are based on land area or resident population only. A true per-capita analysis would include hotel guests, worker population, shoppers, etc., whoever is around at a given time of day -- a huge increase in the denominator. But that would be hard to do, so these things tend to be half-assed.

Very well said!