Thinking of moving to Minneapolis-St. Paul from D.C. (Plymouth: crime rates, how much)

[belladiaries]

Hello! I am new to this forum. I am a 39 year old registered nurse and a single parent of a 12 year old daughter. I am a native Washingtonian but am getting very tired of the D.C. area. The cost of living, school system, and materialistic atmosphere is not for me. I have been thinking about the TC. How is the school system, job situation for nurses, and the arts scene? Also, how is the single scene for woman my age? Has anyone made a move from D.C. to the TC? The snow would not bother me. I lived in Cleveland for a short time.

[ColdRedRain]

Hello! I am new to this forum. I am a 39 year old registered nurse and a single parent of a 12 year old daughter. I am a native Washingtonian but am getting very tired of the D.C. area. The cost of living, school system, and materialistic atmosphere is not for me. I have been thinking about the TC. How is the school system, job situation for nurses, and the arts scene? Also, how is the single scene for woman my age? Has anyone made a move from D.C. to the TC? The snow would not bother me. I lived in Cleveland for a short time.

The snow's not going to be a killer, the cold however is brutal. If you're going to move here, buy a good winter parka. I would reccommend Columbia or North Face parkas.

Cost of living is cheaper than DC and the school systems are good if you stay out of the Twin Cities proper. Actually, a few TC proper schools are good. Minneapolis Southwest High and Saint Paul Johnson are two OK schools. Don't move to Edina if you're looking to get away from the materialistic.

Pending the funding of Universal Healthcare, being a nurse may not be the best profession right now so I would switch professions.

Both cities have a nice arts scene. I prefer the east of the river for arts since Saint Paul's art scene is more based on traditional subjects and I'm a boring fuddy duddy. Minneapolis has a more modern art scene.

If you like working around government buildings, you should try to live in Saint Paul.

[StilltheSame]

Bella - we moved with elementary aged children from SFL a year ago. The schools are much better than SFL (but where isnt) but aftercare costs are much more expensive. Its much much less materialistic here and so nice to get away from that! Housing depends on what you want - you could get a decent place for much less - our housing costs have decreased, but when we buy it will be comparable and we will get alot less house. I find food costs comparable or more than SFL, but utilities less. The winter was fine - layer and bundle.

[MN55]

I think you'll find that everywhere (even Edina) is less materialistic than the DC area. The schools are good in every suburb, many suburbs have great schools. The cities have some schools to watch out for but overall both Minneapolis and St Paul school districts are pretty decent and much better than DC schools. The art scene is pretty good in the Twin Cities. Probably not as good as DC but still a lot better than most medium size cities. I'm not too into art myself but I know we got the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Walker Art Center, a bunch of stuff at the University of Minnesota, and probably more. I can't help you in terms of nursing.

Like someone else said above, the snow is not the problem in Minnesota. The cold is. We get much less snow than Michigan, nothern Ohio, western New York, etc but the cold can get brutal.

[uptown_urbanist]

It might be brutally cold in the summer, but at least there's none of that terrible DC summer humidity! (it does get humid, but it's not nearly as bad or as long as what you find in DC).

The arts scene is pretty good, although not as extensive or with as many free options as what you'll find in DC. (although you can check out free passes to many of the local museums at the library, which is very nice!) There's a lot of theaters in town, too, and for its size the metro area offers quite a bit on that front.

[gearedtowardssalad]

Minneapolis is a great fit for what you're looking for.

[belladiaries]

Thank you so much for your responses. I have been doing some research about the TC and it sounds like a good match for myself and daughter. It helps to hear from people who actually live in the TC. I have been looking at a forum called Allnurses.com. It seems that nurses are having problems with getting employment around the country. I have been a nurse for 10 years now, so I hope that my experience will be in my favor.

[west336]

That's really interesting because most of what I've heard is that nurses are in short supply and that there weren't enough nurses!

[jrhuh65]

Hello, my family and I moved to this area after 10 years in Waldorf, MD. My husband was raised in MN., so we always planned to eventually move somewhere nearby. I can't tell you how much nicer and better for my children MN is compared to MD or D.C. We now live in Anoka, MN., which is about 15 minutes (minus traffic) outside of the cities. My husband only has good things to say about where he grew up (Plymouth, MN.). We have lived here almost exactly 1 year, and I love most everything about it. The winters are not as bad as the rap they get. There are worse places. And they are great about clearing the main streets and highways quickly when there is snow. A big difference between the two areas is the drivers. D.C. metro drivers (most of east coast in general) tend to be aggressive and rude, and cannot drive safely in any kind of inclement weather. People here deal with it often, so they become accustomed to it. Have you ever heard of "Minnesota Nice"? Well, it's basically true! So many people (not everyone of course) are really NICE! Whether some of it is fake or not, it's such a breath of fresh air coming from D.C. RUDE. I have never seen such great customer service and such great attitudes from the workers as I have around here.
Crime here (at least in the outlying burbs) is so much lower than the D.C metro area. And the schools (as a whole) are definitely better! There are exceptions, of course, and there are a few exceptional public schools in the D.C. metro area, but overall, this area beats out many areas in the nation. We live in a great family neighborhood, just 2 blocks away from a very nice park. Parks are great here! One of the things that has always impressed me is that people are out and about all year long. They have great winter activities for the kids (parks with sledding hills and outdoor skating rinks), and many people are out cross country skiing in the snow just around their own neighborhoods and parks. There is a lower obesity rate among children here, just by the fact that they take advantage of outside time and all the great parks, even in the winter.

I can't say enough about the advantages here over the D.C. area. The 2 biggest being the people and the schools. If you don't mind the drive (and it's nothing compared to the commute my husband used to have in MD), Anoka and some of the other outlying towns are a really great place to raise children. Minneapolis itself has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation for large cities. Hope you make it out here! Good luck!