Need to know about St. Cloud for a family

[compromises]

I lived in St. Cloud for a year from Feb 2011-March 2012, and I still commute and work in and around the area.

If I were moving there with a family I would personally choose Sauk Rapids or Sartell, and maybe St. Joseph over living in St. Cloud itself. St. Cloud does have just about anything you'd be looking for as far as day to day living, but I find each of the towns I listed as being overall nicer places for a family. The major benefit in SC over the Minneapolis area is cost of living, but being a much smaller area your options are limited.

While Division street is kind of a nightmare, you can find similar type of stretches almost anywhere in a city of that size. In the last three years, I've noticed a lot of effort to make the downtown area nicer, so it's not like the city is dying. If I had any major complaints about Saint Cloud it'd be that there isn't a lot of character - mostly chains, and if you aren't from the area it's pretty hard to meet people.

As for commute to the cities, I live in Maple Grove right on the northern edge of Plymouth and get to St. Cloud exits in about 50 minutes every morning. From downtown St. Cloud/Sauk Rapids/Sartell to downtown Minneapolis you're looking at about an hour 15 depending on time of day and year.

[lordvader44]

I have lived here for 7 months now and one summer in 98. It has your typical collage town side affects. Downtown is full of drunken kids Thursday night thru sat night. The wages are lower because of the collage kids. There is a very large population of Somalis here. I don't mind refugees most of the time but not Somalis. There is a reason why you left Somalia, ITS A FAILED STATE. If you are a refugee you need to assimilate to our culture not recreate the failed state you left.

[dano5]

I have lived in St Cloud for a year. There are good and not so good things about it. I don't think it is that scenic, but I don't really drive. I find myself missing Minneapolis and all her places to see.
What I like about St Cloud is that it is quiet and in my experience(I'm half Alaskan Native and half Hamburg German), the people are amazingly friendly and decent. I'm not saying that is going to be everyone's experience. I do miss the huge quantity and variety of people, from all over the world that you get in Minneapolis. I have traveled the world and enjoy different cultures.

I visited Minneapolis to take care of business last fall and after a day being there I was so relieved to get back to St Clouds quiet and her friendly people.

I think that if you are looking for a job, and found one where the hours are good for your family you should take it. Relationships are primary.

[bler144]

I suspect the view that St. Cloud is 'more scenic' has to do with the fact that it's pretty quick/easy to hop outside the city proper to the surrounding lake countryside. So if you like to do a lot of hunting/boating/fishing, it's much easier to jump out and do those things.

But it's also largely only one variety of scenic - flat wetlands with interspersed stands of trees for miles on end. The Mississippi valley adds some moderate terrain variation, but nothing as grand as what you'd see down around Red Wing or Winona. Ultimately it's what you value.

Different strokes, etc.