Outstate? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Mankato: to live, pine, metro)

[MSPLove]

Originally Posted by Lily0fthevalley

I started writing this as a reply to the "favorite MN towns outstate" post, then decided it made more sense to start a new thread.

I moved to Northern Minnesota from another state 5 years ago.

During Minnesota's sesquicentennial I tried to get an artist from St. Paul to come up to do a program at my school. She said to me "I'm only going to two places 'outstate'. I was so confused - why was she going to Wisconsin or Iowa or California or wherever for a sesquicentennial program???

I've since learned that the term means "anywhere in Minnesota except the Twin Cities".

As far as I know, only Twin Cities people say "Outstate". I've never ever heard anyone use that term up here.

I find it a kind of offensive term. Does anyone else?

And where exactly are the borders between the Twin Cities and "Outstate"?

Interesting. I've not heard the term myself.

I think it's strange. I don't know... my initial impression? Kind of weird and laughably arrogant really. I can see New York City residents referring to the rest of their state as "Upstate New York" but TC isn't that large or unique...

It IS wildly different from say... Alexandria or Moorhead. Don't get me wrong. But I don't know. (Madison's pretty different from Wausau, too. I don't hear such a term here in WI.) I kind of feel sorry for the TC residents who use it. It's like they're purposely trying to isolate/separate themselves from the rest of Minnesota. Reasons unknown...

I don't find it offensive just strange.

[MSPLove]

Originally Posted by golfgal

I've never heard of anyone being offended by the area outside of the "Cities" being called "outstate". Everyone I know that lives "outstate" refers to the Twin Cities as 'the cities'.

Yep it's always been The Cities, as long as I've lived in NW Wisconsin. But that's just an abbreviation to me.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite

Interesting. I've not heard the term myself.

I think it's strange. I don't know... my initial impression? Kind of weird and laughably arrogant really. I can see New York City residents referring to the rest of their state as "Upstate New York" but TC isn't that large or unique...

It IS wildly different from say... Alexandria or Moorhead. Don't get me wrong. But I don't know. (Madison's pretty different from Wausau, too. I don't hear such a term here in WI.) I kind of feel sorry for the TC residents who use it. It's like they're purposely trying to isolate/separate themselves from the rest of Minnesota. Reasons unknown...

I don't find it offensive just strange.

Yes, except for the fact that people living in the Twin Cities probably use the term far less than those who live outside of the Twin Cities. And it's a very different situation from WI; here in Minnesota we have one major metro area, FAR bigger than any other city in the state, and that major metro area also is home to our state capitol. If Duluth, for example, had a million residents, and Rochester had another million, and the capitol were in Alexandria or somewhere, there wouldn't be that ability to split the state into two categories.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Minnesconsinite

Interesting. I've not heard the term myself.

I think it's strange. I don't know... my initial impression? Kind of weird and laughably arrogant really. I can see New York City residents referring to the rest of their state as "Upstate New York" but TC isn't that large or unique...

It IS wildly different from say... Alexandria or Moorhead. Don't get me wrong. But I don't know. (Madison's pretty different from Wausau, too. I don't hear such a term here in WI.) I kind of feel sorry for the TC residents who use it. It's like they're purposely trying to isolate/separate themselves from the rest of Minnesota. Reasons unknown...

I don't find it offensive just strange.

Wisconsin doesn't really have a metro of comparable size ... the Twin Cities is 33% larger than the Milwaukee and Madison MSAs combined, though at 1.7 million Milwaukee is hardly a small town.

Madison is also something that Minnesota doesn't have ... a secondary MSA which is large enough to actually compete with the primary MSA.

Madison is around 600,000. Nothing in MN is more than 1/10th the size of the Twin Cities (Duluth MSA is 275,486, St. Cloud is 189,148, and Rochester is 186,011).

Each of those area is competitive in its own right, of course, but there's an undeniable difference of scale between the Twin Cities and any other town or group of towns in the state.

I don't use "The Cities" unless I'm talking to someone from elsewhere in MN, and then I use the term because that's what many (most?) of them call the Twin Cities. It represents slightly more half of the population of the state, and so the Twin Cities is actually a majority in MN. Not by a lot, but it still is...

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Yes, except for the fact that people living in the Twin Cities probably use the term far less than those who live outside of the Twin Cities. And it's a very different situation from WI; here in Minnesota we have one major metro area, FAR bigger than any other city in the state, and that major metro area also is home to our state capitol. If Duluth, for example, had a million residents, and Rochester had another million, and the capitol were in Alexandria or somewhere, there wouldn't be that ability to split the state into two categories.

Yeah, what you said.

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Wisconsin doesn't really have a metro of comparable size ... the Twin Cities is 33% larger than the Milwaukee and Madison MSAs combined, though at 1.7 million Milwaukee is hardly a small town.

Madison is also something that Minnesota doesn't have ... a secondary MSA which is large enough to actually compete with the primary MSA.

Madison is around 600,000. Nothing in MN is more than 1/10th the size of the Twin Cities (Duluth MSA is 275,486, St. Cloud is 189,148, and Rochester is 186,011).

Each of those area is competitive in its own right, of course, but there's an undeniable difference of scale between the Twin Cities and any other town or group of towns in the state.

I don't use "The Cities" unless I'm talking to someone from elsewhere in MN, and then I use the term because that's what many (most?) of them call the Twin Cities. It represents slightly more half of the population of the state, and so the Twin Cities is actually a majority in MN. Not by a lot, but it still is...

'
Nice observation. Same could be said for Michigan now... Grand Rapids is turning into a legitimate MSA....

MN is truly unique. Either you live in the metro... or you don't

[yoyoma02]

Originally Posted by knke0204

'
Nice observation. Same could be said for Michigan now... Grand Rapids is turning into a legitimate MSA....

MN is truly unique. Either you live in the metro... or you don't

Unless you live in Elk River..

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by yoyoma02

Unless you live in Elk River..

Oh how I have missed you!



.... or Forest Lake, Waconia, St. Francis, New Prauge and Northfield?

[northstar22]

Originally Posted by knke0204

Oh how I have missed you!



.... or Forest Lake, Waconia, St. Francis, New Prauge and Northfield?

Don't forget LeSueur, Belle Plaine and Buffalo!

[Ez Mode Pls]

Yeah I never knew about this 'the cities' phenomenon until I went down to Mankato and everyone was reffering to 'the cities' as all of the suburb + mpls/stpaul