Twin Cities Tiers (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington: to live in, pine, suburbs)

[tvdxer]

This is a list of Twin Cities suburbs and outlying communities ordered into tiers , based primarily but not completely on how many borders must be crossed to get into either Minneapolis or St. Paul (directly, not by road). For example, a third tier suburb would border a suburb that borders another suburb which borders Minneapolis or St. Paul. The fifth-tier suburbs may not directly border any other incorporated city. The final category are communities beyond the outskirts of the "integral" metropolitan area but are likely to have some affinity to the Twin Cities metro area while maintaining a mostly independent identity.

First-tier suburbs of Minneapolis / St. Paul (clockwise order): Robbinsdale, Brooklyn Center, Fridley, Columbia Heights, St. Anthony, Roseville, Falcon Heights, Maplewood, Newport, South St. Paul, West St. Paul, Mendota / Mendota Heights, Richfield, Edina, St. Louis Park, Golden Valley

Second-tier suburbs of Minneapolis / St. Paul (clockwise order): Plymouth, New Hope, Crystal, Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids, Blaine, Spring Lake Park, Moundsview, Arden Hills, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights, White Bear Lake, Mahtomedi, North St. Paul**, Oakdale, Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Inver Grove Heights, Eagan, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Minnetonka,

Third-tier: Maple Grove, Champlin, Anoka, Andover, Ham Lake, Lino Lakes, North Oaks, Grant, Mahtomedi, Lake Elmo, Afton, Rosemount, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Savage, Shakopee, Chanhassen, Shorewood / Greenwood / Tonka Bay, Wayzata, Orono, Medina

Fourth-tier: Corcoran, Dayton, Ramsey, Oak Grove, East Bethel, Hugo, Lakeland Shores, Lake St. Croix, Stillwater #, Hastings#, Prescott#
s, Farmington (5*), Lakeville, Prior Lake, Chaska, Victoria, Minnetrista, Mound, Independence

Fifth-tier / exurban frontier*: Greenfield, Hanover, Rogers, Otsego, Elk River, St. Francis, Bethel, Forest Lake, Marine on St. Croix, Hudson (WI), River Falls (WI), Vermillion, Elko, New Market, Hampton, New Trier, Carver, Jordan, Waconia, Watertown, Delano, Rockford

Even Beyond: Buffalo, Monticello, Big Lake, Zimmerman, Princeton, Cambridge, Isanti, North Branch, Stacy, Chisago City, Lindstrom, Center City, Schafer, Taylor Falls, Osceola (WI), St. Croix Falls (WI), Somerset (WI), River Falls (WI), Elko, New Prague, Lonsdale, Belle Plaine, Cologne, Norwood Young America, Glencoe, Hutchison, Winsted, Cokato, Howard Lake, Winsted, Waverly, Montrose

* Includes areas not bordering a fourth-tier suburb, but next in line (due to land not belonging to any city lying in between them), and also some even more distant towns that are likely to have a large Twin Cities commuting population.

** Better first than 2? / Better 2 than 3?, Coate

This list was made in a rather rushed and non-conclusive fashion for my personal entertainment, so don't expect perfection, complete accuracy, completeness, or even for it to make full sense. Just enjoy that I did this and comment

(BTW, I this site: Maps.Huge.Info Mapping Programs)

[JenLee]

That's kind of fun to read; but there are a few that I would consider as being in a different tier even though by using your definition of which tiers they are in it looks correct.

You did miss a few suburbs, however. Where would you put Lauderdale, Hilltop, Gem Lake, Willernie, Pine Springs, Landfall, Lillydale, Sunfish Lake, Woodland, and a few others I can't remember right now?

[MattDen]

I thought that was a very extensive great list its just amazing how many suburbs and local units of government the Twin Cities have.

The Twin Cities metropolitan area is very, very suburban oriented for sure. Its amazing that out of a 3.5 million Combined Statistical area less then 700,000 people live in Minneapolis or St. Paul.

I prefer urban areas so if I had to live in the suburbs it would be a first-tier suburb. My favorite suburb is Bloomington and Roseville. I also like St. Louis Park.

Thank you very much for that very informative post! I think I might do a similar list for the Denver metro area in that forum one of these days.

[JenLee]

Originally Posted by MattDen

My favorite suburb is Bloomington and Roseville. I also like St. Louis Park.

Bloomington is nowhere near Roseville, so I hope you meant that your favorite suburbs ARE Bloomington and Roseville.

If so, I'll agree to really liking Roseville and St. Louis Park; but I really am not so enamored with Bloomington, however.

It sounds like that would be a fun project (listing suburb tiers) for other major cities to do. I would bet that many 1st tier suburbs for other large cities aren't as nice as St. Louis Park or Roseville!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by MattDen

The Twin Cities metropolitan area is very, very suburban oriented for sure. Its amazing that out of a 3.5 million Combined Statistical area less then 700,000 people live in Minneapolis or St. Paul.

It's harder to do that sort of thing here in the Atlanta metro because the Atlanta map is WEIRD. It's very hard for incorporated cities to expand here, there is no concept at all of "township", and the county level provides a lot more services here, so most of the metro area is actually unincorporated with islands of city-level government here and there. It takes some getting used to.

The Atlanta CSA has a population of 5,478,667 as of July 2006, and the city of Atlanta itself is only 483,108 people as of July 1, 2006. That means MORE suburbs with a really badly-thought-out road system. :-)

BTW -- the initial posting was awesome! Thanks!