Best Twin Cities suburb? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: apartments, houses, luxury)

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by rogead

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I certainly agree, that in casual usage, Bloomington is typically thought of as a suburb. However, The OMB (which has the task of defining MSAs) defines a core city based upon the ratio of jobs to residents.

With the airport, MOA, and all of the related auxiliary development; Bloomington's role as am employment center has technically moved it out of the realm of suburbs.

That's why the official US Census Division which equates to this metropolitan area is "Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI". It's similar to the status of Bellevue, WA or Arlington, TX.

I NEVER knew that! Big +1!!

*Edit: later on that +1....when it will let me!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by rogead

^
^
I certainly agree, that in casual usage, Bloomington is typically thought of as a suburb. However, The OMB (which has the task of defining MSAs) defines a core city based upon the ratio of jobs to residents.

With the airport, MOA, and all of the related auxiliary development; Bloomington's role as am employment center has technically moved it out of the realm of suburbs.

That's why the official US Census Division which equates to this metropolitan area is "Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI". It's similar to the status of Bellevue, WA or Arlington, TX.

That's interesting. Ok. Huh.

How does the census handle metros like Atlanta where huge employment centers can exist in unincorporated areas, e.g., the Cumberland area in the NW corner of the I-285 loop? Ain't no city present to attach the jobs to, just Cobb County.

[Matt291]

I think we need to exclude Bloomington from the list since it's, technically, no longer a suburb. However, if it is in the equation, it's easily the most dominant and important. Leaving Bloomington out, I chose Brooklyn Park. Already the largest suburb by population, with a lot of room remaining for residential, commercial, and light industrial development.


You have to be kidding me, Brooklyn Park pails in comparison to SLP Edina Lake Minnetonka even the cookie cutter suburbs like Eagan and Lakeville.

[Beenhere4ever]

So Richfield then is not a surburb either? How about Columbia Heights or St Louis Park?

[pzrOrange]

Minnetonka in absolute terms, but it is very expensive.

otherwise, Plymouth for ammeneties for your money ratio.

[QuietBlue]

I went with Bloomington due to the location and the sheer quantity and variety of its offerings. I was strongly considering moving there when apartment hunting years ago. But if Bloomington doesn't count, I'd go with somewhere like Eagan (where I live now) or SLP.

[Lafferty Daniel]

I consider Bloomington to be a suburb, especially West and Southeast Bloomington. Does the OMB consider Bloomington to be a "core city" even with the population decrease that has happened in the past ten years or so? Are there any other "core cities" that have a population under 85,000?

[NewOrleanianLA1]

Can anyone comment about the suburb of Vadnais Heights in a specific area below?

I found a reasonable rental in Berwood Park neighborhood between I-35 East and Vadnais Lake.

Is it a safe area?

Statistics I found showed that the area is little more diverse with slight lower income compared to the rest of Vadnais Heights but it doesn't necessarily mean a bad area.

[northsub]

Originally Posted by NewOrleanianLA1

Can anyone comment about the suburb of Vadnais Heights in a specific area below?

I found a reasonable rental in Berwood Park neighborhood between I-35 East and Vadnais Lake.

Is it a safe area?

Statistics I found showed that the area is little more diverse with slight lower income compared to the rest of Vadnais Heights but it doesn't necessarily mean a bad area.

I'd be surprised if you didn't feel comfortable walking around at night there. Crime statistics may be hard to come by since Vadnais Heights doesn't have its own police department (a bunch of suburbs in that area contract with the county sheriff's office). The data from city-data suggests Vadnais Heights to have a very low crime rate. There was 1 robbery in the entire city in 2010, which was an increase from the 0 of 2008 (previous year data is available at city-data).

[pzrOrange]

my parents live very close to Vadnais Heights. It is a very safe and clean area from what I can tell driving through the streets...