Best neighborhoods for an ethnic educated couple with small children in the twincities suburbs?? (Minneapolis: low income, crime)

[globalchick]

Any advice on narrowing down the best neighborhoods to live for an educated, ethnic couple with small children? My husband and I have lived in large cities in the U.S. in the past. We are very cultured and have many interests. I used to love the city live but now I like the suburbs for safety, space and higher quality of public school systems. However, with small children and one in a public school with zero diversity, we have made the decision to move to a more diverse community. Diversity and poverty don't have to always go hand in hand as there are devoted and family oriented poor or low income American families. I would value living among such community. It is the crime and low value system that we want to stay away from.
Then there are those of us who come with high academic trainings and are very focused on creating a stable and good life for our children. We would belong best to live among other educated but diverse families. Is this not attainable? I hope it is. I hope you will be able to suggest some neighborhoods in the twincities suburbs with high quality of living, good schools and some diversity. We currently live in Mendota Heights and my husband works in Bloomington. I work in St. Paul but only part time so I can manage longer commute, etc. Any and all of your suggestions will be so valuable and appreciated.
Thanks,
Globalchick!

[globalchick]

Could someone please comment on the best neighborhoods for diverse couple with small children? I was eager to hear from folks who know of certain neighborhoods in the twincities suburbs with fair amount of well educated immigrant families.
I am very interested in your opinions before we make a purchase in the next few months hopefully.
Right now we live in Mendota Heights and it is a great community but we just stand out as the only one's of different background.
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Globalchick.

[golfgal]

Define diverse. If you are looking for a 50/50 split in a good suburb, you won't find it in the metro. If you want a few minority families then you will be ok in most suburbs. Given where you work I would look into the Rosemount/Apple Valley/Eagan district. The diversity in the area certainly isn't close to 50/50 but the area is surprisingly diverse for MN especially the Indian population (from India) and Asian population.

[Slig]

These numbers are getting a little outdated but should be able to give you a decent idea of the amount of diversity you'll find in these suburbs:

based on 2000 census:
Rosemount
92.78% white
2.03% African American
2.13% Asian
1.83% Hispanic

Apple Valley
91.81% white
1.91% African American
3.39% Asian
2.00% Hispanic

Eagan
88.03% White
3.41% African American
5.31% Asian
2.24% Hispanic

Of course to a certain extent what should be considered diverse or not is a matter of opinion. In my personal opinion, Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount are NOT diverse places. Statistically, the most diverse suburb in the Twin Cities is Brooklyn Center. Just recently there was an article in the Star Tribune stating that Brooklyn Center was over 50% non-white. Other relatively diverse suburbs in my opinion include Brooklyn Park, Richfield and Hopkins. This also varies alot from neighborhood to neighborhood. The neighborhood I live in basically has an equal number of Whites, Blacks and Hispanics with a notable presence of Asians and Native Americans as well. Overall, you are going to find the most diversity in parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul proper.

[Clifford63]

One place where education and diversity run together is the University of Minnesota. You have students and staff from all over the world working to educate and be educated.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Slig

These numbers are getting a little outdated but should be able to give you a decent idea of the amount of diversity you'll find in these suburbs:

based on 2000 census:
Rosemount
92.78% white
2.03% African American
2.13% Asian
1.83% Hispanic

Apple Valley
91.81% white
1.91% African American
3.39% Asian
2.00% Hispanic

Eagan
88.03% White
3.41% African American
5.31% Asian
2.24% Hispanic

Of course to a certain extent what should be considered diverse or not is a matter of opinion. In my personal opinion, Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount are NOT diverse places. Statistically, the most diverse suburb in the Twin Cities is Brooklyn Center. Just recently there was an article in the Star Tribune stating that Brooklyn Center was over 50% non-white. Other relatively diverse suburbs in my opinion include Brooklyn Park, Richfield and Hopkins. This also varies alot from neighborhood to neighborhood. The neighborhood I live in basically has an equal number of Whites, Blacks and Hispanics with a notable presence of Asians and Native Americans as well. Overall, you are going to find the most diversity in parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul proper.

Like I said, define diverse (which literally means different and given that, yes it is diverse-yet most people use diverse to mean mostly minority which isn't accurate either) and I would argue that these statistics are no longer accurate, especially for Apple Valley and Rosemount just looking at the student population at the schools. It certainly isn't 50/50 but is is more diverse then these stats show. Given the criteria of wanting good schools, safe communities and location to work, Apple Valley and Rosemount fit the bill vs the Brooklyns, Richfield, etc.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Like I said, define diverse (which literally means different and given that, yes it is diverse-yet most people use diverse to mean mostly minority which isn't accurate either) and I would argue that these statistics are no longer accurate, especially for Apple Valley and Rosemount just looking at the student population at the schools. It certainly isn't 50/50 but is is more diverse then these stats show. Given the criteria of wanting good schools, safe communities and location to work, Apple Valley and Rosemount fit the bill vs the Brooklyns, Richfield, etc.

I agree "Define Diverse".

To the OP. Simply go on City-Data.com and search out the Stat's that you find "diverse". Generally speaking, the burb's are pretty homogeneous. Brooklyn Park would not be my 1st choice.

[kuan]

Hopkins school district is pretty diverse. In my first ECFE class of four families there were three mixed race families.

In a couple generations everyone will be brown and conversations we'll view conversations like these to be silly. (we hope)

[globalchick]

Thanks to all of you who responded to help us find our next home in a diverse neighborhood.

I agree diversity is sometimes at the eye of the beholder For our family, we really don't care much about the black and white equations. We want to be neighbors with people from India for instance and some Hmong and some whites and some blacks and some anybody if we can find such neighborhood so that our children would gain a sense of universality.

We were considering Eagan. What do folks think of Eagan? Do you know specific neighborhoods in Eagan to find some diversity.

I drove over to Rosemound. I found the drive a bit too long specially in the winter and when you get off of 52 the roads are small.

Again thank you so much for your responses. Continue to offer your suggestions as I still would like to learn more.
Globalchick

[Slig]

I don't think you're going to find much more diversity in Eagan than you'd find in Mendota Heights. There will be a little bit more but not enough where you'd really notice.