Twin Cities rank low in preferred places to live (Minneapolis: 2009, neighborhood)

[fashionguy]

Twin Cities rank low in preferred places to live - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

Minneapolis finally met a national survey that doesn’t like it.
Despite topping myriad “best-city-for _____” lists, Minneapolis lands near the bottom of a list of cities ranked by popularity as a place to live.
Only 16 percent of respondents to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project said they’d like to live in the City of Lakes or its surrounding metro area. Only Kansas City, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit ranked lower in the study.
Denver topped the list of 30 cities, with 43 percent of respondents saying they’d like to live there. San Diego, Seattle, Orlando, and Tampa, Fla., rounded out the top five.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul region typically scores well on national surveys. In the past two years the area has scored:

• No. 1 for most literate (tied with Seattle)
• Top 10 for healthiest cities
• Third-best place to grow old, according to Forbes;
• No. 1 among metro areas for business , according to Marketwatch;
• No. 10 for small-business friendliness , according to Bizjournals.com
• No. 18 for sports , according to the Sporting News
• In the Top 10 for singles , according to Forbes;
• The seventh-smartest city , according to bizjournals.com
• Ninth-cleanest city , according to Forbes;
• No. 6 on Bizjournals.com’s “fun cities” list ;

Pew found that 46 percent of those surveyed would rather live somewhere else.
Pew also found that:

• By a 3-1 ratio, people want to live where the pace of life is slow and where neighbors know each other well.
• By about 2-1, they prefer to live in a hot-weather place over a cold-weather place.
• About 70 percent of whites rate their current community as “excellent” or “very good,” but only about half of Latinos and 40 percent of African-Americans say the same.
• Rural and suburban residents rate their communities better than do residents of cities and small towns.

Pew’s report is based on a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,260 adults, conducted Oct. 3-19. If you’d rather have a hamburger than a latte in your neighborhood, you’re not alone. The study found that more people would rather live in a place with more McDonald’s restaurants (43 percent) than more Starbucks coffee shops (35 percent).

[moving123456]

I don't mind being low on that list. Many people have no clue how nice it is in this area. That isn't always a bad thing.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

Twin Cities rank low in preferred places to live - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

Minneapolis finally met a national survey that doesn’t like it.
Despite topping myriad “best-city-for _____” lists, Minneapolis lands near the bottom of a list of cities ranked by popularity as a place to live.
Only 16 percent of respondents to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project said they’d like to live in the City of Lakes or its surrounding metro area. Only Kansas City, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit ranked lower in the study.
Denver topped the list of 30 cities, with 43 percent of respondents saying they’d like to live there. San Diego, Seattle, Orlando, and Tampa, Fla., rounded out the top five.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul region typically scores well on national surveys. In the past two years the area has scored:

• No. 1 for most literate (tied with Seattle)
• Top 10 for healthiest cities
• Third-best place to grow old, according to Forbes;
• No. 1 among metro areas for business , according to Marketwatch;
• No. 10 for small-business friendliness , according to Bizjournals.com
• No. 18 for sports , according to the Sporting News
• In the Top 10 for singles , according to Forbes;
• The seventh-smartest city , according to bizjournals.com
• Ninth-cleanest city , according to Forbes;
• No. 6 on Bizjournals.com’s “fun cities” list ;

Pew found that 46 percent of those surveyed would rather live somewhere else.
Pew also found that:

• By a 3-1 ratio, people want to live where the pace of life is slow and where neighbors know each other well.
• By about 2-1, they prefer to live in a hot-weather place over a cold-weather place.
• About 70 percent of whites rate their current community as “excellent” or “very good,” but only about half of Latinos and 40 percent of African-Americans say the same.
• Rural and suburban residents rate their communities better than do residents of cities and small towns.

Pew’s report is based on a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 2,260 adults, conducted Oct. 3-19. If you’d rather have a hamburger than a latte in your neighborhood, you’re not alone. The study found that more people would rather live in a place with more McDonald’s restaurants (43 percent) than more Starbucks coffee shops (35 percent).

More people prefer to live in an area where there are more McDonalds than Starbucks. That is them. That is not me. I prefer not to eat at McDonalds. In fact, I prefer not to eat at most fast food places. I just do it sometimes because it is cheap and fast. Starbucks, on the other hand, is very good. I like coffee in general. I prefer Starbucks over McDonalds.

A hot weather place over a cold weather place. Hot weather can be so overrated. I turn into two things in hot weather: Lazy and irritable. At least in the snow you can play in it. Hot weather can kill you. Ask any Chicago resident who was there in the summer of 1995.

Knowing your neighbors, well, that can be subjective. It has its ups and downs. On the one hand, it can give you a sense of community and a sense of pride. On the other side of the coin, if you stand out in some way for any reason, sometimes you may not want people to see that because you're either A).Trying to keep up with the group dynamic and/or
B) Avoiding ridicule from neighbors, overt or covert.

Mpls-St.Paul is like the buried treasure few people dig for. It has alot of quality things, but because of its location and the preferences of others, many people miss out becauase they dig in other places. Alot of places in the USA are like that.

[acrylic]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Mpls-St.Paul is like the buried treasure few people dig for. It has alot of quality things, but because of its location and the preferences of others, many people miss out becauase they dig in other places. Alot of places in the USA are like that.

True, there are a lot of quality things in MSP. It would be a wonderful place to live, lots of opportunity, etc, but you gotta realize, some people absolutely cannot stand the harsh winters. And they do get harsh up here in Minnesnowta.
I'm envious of Phoenix's weather about 3/4 of the year. The only 1/4 of the year that I actually enjoy here is the summer. So, I pick and choose what is more worth it.

[MRNorthSide]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

More people prefer to live in an area where there are more McDonalds than Starbucks. That is them. That is not me. I prefer not to eat at McDonalds. In fact, I prefer not to eat at most fast food places. I just do it sometimes because it is cheap and fast. Starbucks, on the other hand, is very good. I like coffee in general. I prefer Starbucks over McDonalds.

McDonalds has much better coffee than S$. IMHO.

[fishingprof]

ITs only low because people think that we have snow 9 months out of the year...but little do they know that is only crappy from november-march give or take a couple weeks. then its beautiful the rest of the year. During the summer I am a parks matainence worker and the 3 years Of working outside 7-3 monday through friday I have had one rainday.

[hindsight2020]

Um, november-march is effectively HALF the year! And it's not the snow that drives people to warmer climates, it's the wind chill and gust factor that makes outside life an afterthought for half the year. To the poster who suggested hot weather can kill you, I think it's fair to say that knife cuts both ways, to suggest otherwise states nothing but a personal preference, which is what the survey illustrates.

Look, there's nothing wrong with that opportunity cost, it's just not for everyone. We got the same responses from our relatives in Indiana when we relocated south. The weather up there is awful half the year and manageable 1/4 of the year and gorgeous the other 1/4. We choose to live in the south where we don't have to alter our lifestyle on account of the weather. Different strokes for different folks. Many of our relatives in Indiana privately despise the idea of having a large precentage of black people living among you, and in fairness so do a lot of white people down here, which is why they choose to remain in IN where the racial idiosyncracies of life are more homogeneous. Their opportunity cost is soul-sucking winters. I don't see anything wrong with that. MN is no different in that respect. That it's not PC? Perhaps, but it's the bitter cold (pun intended) truth.

[kuan]

Heck they didn't ask me.

Therefore their survey is invalid.

[Thegonagle]

Originally Posted by MRNorthSide

McDonalds has much better coffee than S$. IMHO.

I don't know about that, but their "premium" coffee that they switched to a few years ago is pretty decent for a fast-food coffee. Plus, it's only $1.29, and I don't feel guilty at McDonald's for not tipping.

[knke0402]

I just asked my cousins girlfriend from California " Hey, so what do people out there think of Minnesota?"

she responded with "They dont care, people from Cali dont care about anywhere other than Cali"

Or the new Rene Zwelliger?sp? movie. In the trailer she goes"MINNESOTA??!?! OMG?@??!" like shes moving to mars.

This is simply the picture that is painted of MN. Nobody ever comes here and nobody understands how great it is.

I think on a general basis, people across the country put MN in the same category as Montana, N.Dakota, S.Dakota, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas... When MN is much more superior in terms of lifestyles, cosmo, economy, and everyday aggregate things...

Like when I was in Philly, these girls kept saying "I cant believe you guys are from MN" ...its like, yea, were arent f'ing aliens.