Thinking of moving to Minneapolis/ St. Paul (Rochester, Cottage Grove: houses, schools)

[Ryleyw9]

I was hoping to hear some input from locals before I made the move to MN. I did see some threads on here that have been super helpful

The backstory
I am from Florida and my wife is from the Midwest. We have been in SE wisconsin between kenosha WI and Milwaukee WI for the last 4yrs. I have been looking at jobs that fit my background and The twin cities appear to have a bunch of opportunity in my career field and lots of opportunity.

TRAFFIC:I hear traffic is horrible. Being from Florida I think tampa traffic is horrible, as I seem to never hit any when I go through milwaukee/ Chicago or Atlanta. I would be living in the cottage grove area working in Prescott wi while the wife works in the city. Is the traffic THAT bad? How does it compare to milwaukee? I’ve done research but I don’t feel it’s accurate as some cities I drive through don’t make the “worst cities” list so I thought I would solicit the locals

The property taxes seem in line with Milwaukee and the schools in mn seem better. A typical house in my area of wisconsin is built in the 80’s and goes for $180k with 1500 sq ft. When I searched south east of the cities that same house would cost between 220-250k and is 50-100 years old . Why is that? I know it’s a sellers market but are the wages that much higher?

WEATHER: although I’ve spent the majority of my life in FL, I can handle the cold. It’s the wind that kills me and it seems to be windier here because we are on a Great Lake. If there was little to no wind, I could handle the cold. Are the twin cities really that much colder than Milwaukee?

summer: in Milwaukee there is tons to do in the summer. Lots of music, lots of fests, parks and water activities/boating . (No fun places to go indoors in the winter). How are the twin cities in the summer? Outside of sports, is there a lot to do?

Thanks for any help

[Glenfield]

The traffic is not that bad and there will be zero traffic between Cottage Grove and Prescott. For your wife, it depends on what you mean by “the city.” Is she working in St Paul or Minneapolis and where in the city? Use Google Maps or a smiler app to check commute times.

Because the air temp is usually lower and because we’re not on the lake, you don’t get that damp feeling in the winter so, when dressed appropriately, I find it doesn’t feel as cold as Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, etc. Sometimes it can be windy but not usually.

I don’t know if comparable houses are more expensive here or not.

Yes, there are tons of things to do here indoors and out year around.

[Minnesota Spring]

The weather is what it is It is a "dry" cold most of the time, which is better than the damp cold. This time of year is the worst, as going into March some years we are moving into spring and some years, like this year, we get dumped on and it may be a few weeks to a month before spring sets in for good. But if you love fresh snow, and I suppose a lot of people do, it's a wonderland.

Spring/Summer/Fall in the Twin Cities are the best IMO. There is a lot of stuff going on outside- a lot of people spend their whole days outside- outdoor concerts, bar patios, ball games, bike trails, the many lakes, the lush greenery; it's gorgeous - a trade off for winter. Traffic in the Cottage Grove area should not be bad. Once you get up towards 494, 94 and into Minneapolis and the SW Metro it can get worse, but not as bad as Miami or Chicago- not sure how bad Tampa is.

[mr roboto]

Housing - put simply the Twin Coties is a more desirable area than Milwaukee. Milwaukee is on the Indy/St Louis/Cleveland tier regarding metros. Minneapolis/St Paul is one notch above (more comparable to Denver/Seattle). So that’s why homes are more.

Wages are high. Public amenities are great. Schools and parks and public festivals etc are plentiful.

Traffic isn’t that bad IF...

1. you’ve lived anywhere bigger than MSP and know what real traffic feels like
2. you avoid cross-metro commuting (ex. living in eastern burbs and working in Minneapolis or living in south metro working in north metro)
3. you can avoid peak rush hour during snow events.

Tampa area doesn’t have as good of a freeway infrastructure (especially Pinellas Co). The Twin Cities have highways/freeways everywhere in the core/inner ring suburbs.

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by Ryleyw9

I was hoping to hear some input from locals before I made the move to MN. I did see some threads on here that have been super helpful

The backstory
I am from Florida and my wife is from the Midwest. We have been in SE wisconsin between kenosha WI and Milwaukee WI for the last 4yrs. I have been looking at jobs that fit my background and The twin cities appear to have a bunch of opportunity in my career field and lots of opportunity.

TRAFFIC:I hear traffic is horrible. Being from Florida I think tampa traffic is horrible, as I seem to never hit any when I go through milwaukee/ Chicago or Atlanta. I would be living in the cottage grove area working in Prescott wi while the wife works in the city. Is the traffic THAT bad? How does it compare to milwaukee? I’ve done research but I don’t feel it’s accurate as some cities I drive through don’t make the “worst cities” list so I thought I would solicit the locals

The property taxes seem in line with Milwaukee and the schools in mn seem better. A typical house in my area of wisconsin is built in the 80’s and goes for $180k with 1500 sq ft. When I searched south east of the cities that same house would cost between 220-250k and is 50-100 years old . Why is that? I know it’s a sellers market but are the wages that much higher?

WEATHER: although I’ve spent the majority of my life in FL, I can handle the cold. It’s the wind that kills me and it seems to be windier here because we are on a Great Lake. If there was little to no wind, I could handle the cold. Are the twin cities really that much colder than Milwaukee?

summer: in Milwaukee there is tons to do in the summer. Lots of music, lots of fests, parks and water activities/boating . (No fun places to go indoors in the winter). How are the twin cities in the summer? Outside of sports, is there a lot to do?

Thanks for any help

Traffic: it's what you'd expect given the size of the city (we are ~2x the size of Milwaukee). I am amazed to hear you say you don't hit traffic in Atlanta or Chicago, as these cities seem to always have traffic, even on weekends. The commute from cottage grove should not be that bad.


Home:A good starter home probably costs $275K? We have higher wages, a better economy (Milwaukee is in the rust belt), and higher housing codes which also drive up the cost.


Wind: I don't know that I would characterize the twin Cities as windy, moreso down by Rochester and over west by South Dakota.


Summer: We are known as a festival city, and outside of Milwaukee latching on to Chicago, I'd be willing to guess we have a lot more going on than Milwaukee. We are a music city, have the best state fair in the country, lots of farmer's markets, etc.

[MattMN]

Above advice is all pretty good. Go for the move - Twin Cities area is great since you're good with the cold in the winter.

JOBS - It's a bigger market with lots of companies, so if you've done your research like you say, it's probably accurate and you'll have options.
TRAFFIC - No worse than Tampa. Cottage Grove to Minneapolis would be a long drive, to St. Paul not as bad. Can always take the bus.
HOUSING - Maybe costs are a little higher, but should not be out of line. Wages are also probably a little higher than Milwaukee.
WEATHER - It will be colder in January than Milwaukee, but not as windy.
SUMMER - Tons to do all over the Twin Cities. Very similar - Lots of music, lots of fests, parks.

[ellysbelly]

Schools are rated higher in MN than WI and, as others have mentioned, there's TONS to do here in the summer.

I'm also from FL, have been living here for almost 4 years-- there's rarely enough wind to make it feel like the cold is penetrating your bones (I travel to Chicago for work fairly often and I feel a HUGE difference when I'm there, even at comparable temps).

I can understand and appreciate your concern about housing costs, but the difference between a house for $180 and one for $250 (in monthly carrying costs) is less than $500/per month-- so as long as you and/or your wife are making a total of $8-$10K more, you shouldn't feel a difference-- and you might feel it's worth it for the "better" schools for your kids, even if you make a lateral move.