Advice needed on schools and commute (Minneapolis, Plymouth: home, buy, school district)

[MNBound15]

Hi everyone! My family will be moving to Minnesota this summer and are looking for some input into where to move. My husband will be working in downtown Minneapolis. We are looking for an area with a reasonable commute to mpls as well as great /excellent schools. So far our research has yielded Shoreview/Arden Hills with the Moundsview school district, Plymouth/Wayzata with the Wayzata school district, and Eden Prairie. EP seems to have the longest commute and lowest rated schools (not to say they’re bad, just rated lower) of the three, but seems to have the most consistent quality in housing and schooling.

I would appreciate some thoughts on this. Do you believe commute would be less from one area over another, or schooling and general standard of living better in another. Commute time to Minneapolis is a very important factor in our decision making. Thank you!

[Kebinminn]

You have public transit options for commuting from EP. Southwest Transit has a commuter bus and light rail will be there one of these days.

Wayzata is known for its schools and the commute would be straight down 394, not bad but it can be heavy in traffic. You can pay to use the sane lanes. I think the standard of living would be fine in all of them. It all depends on what factors you use to determine that.

[cheddar]

I live in the cities but if I had to choose a school district or suburb it would be Moundsview/Shoreview area. Go check out the community center at Shoreview- so much for kids to do in that area.

[Citykid3785]

I think you're placing too much emphasis on the differences you're seeing in school ratings. MN suburbs are very homogeneous generally speaking. You may have slight differences in building age, enrollment size, and demographics, but they will be differences of a small magnitude, not large. Some of the districts you mention have very large high school enrollment (3,400 students+), so do consider if thats okay, or something that bothers you (harder to get on sports teams for instance).

What I'm trying to say, is vs. other metro areas where you need to hone in on one little spot to have "the good school," that generally doesn't hold up in the Twin Cities, I would buy based on other factors such as commute, housing stock, public transportation to DT, etc.

[Kayekaye]

Shoreview Is great for schools. It is called Mounds View school district but don’t move to the suburb of Mounds View, which is next to Shoreview, it’s a not nearly as nice! Shoreview is great for hopping onto the freeway and getting all over. But plan on a long commute now from anywhere with the traffic and road repair.

[MNBound15]

Thank you all! Your replies have been very helpful. For the time being, we’ve narrowed it down to Shoreview, for the schools and the easy commute to MPLS.

[minnesotanmama]

Consider private school to be on the safe side when school boundaries get moved, as they always do. Then you are assured your kids stay where you want them. We raised three of our kids at New Life Academy and have good things to say about NLA. There is bussing available and teachers are excellent there, especially Ms. Allen. The school helps financially up to half too, if financial dips come along, as they have for us being self-employed through the years. Woodbury has excellent school ratings, but I get it if you don't want to cross the bridge during commute hours. Taxes tend to be high in my opinion: $5K for a $350K-$400K home is high to me. Anyone seeing this, feel free to ask me any questions. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

[Kayekaye]

When we lived in Shoreview we did private school as well. Not because of educational standards, just religious.