4 good reasons ? (Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester: low income, crime, job market)

[danarchy]

4. cold weather keeps the "trash" and homeless away, or at least out of sight

3. rural property at $850-1000 an acre

2. extremely reasonable property taxes

1. a comfortable distance from the south and southern people

p.s. when refering to minnesota, there is two very different places you are talking about. 1. the minneapolis saint paul area and its suburbs. 2. everywhere else in the state.

[restlessinmn]

Originally Posted by danarchy

4. cold weather keeps the "trash" and homeless away, or at least out of sight

p.s. when refering to minnesota, there is two very different places you are talking about. 1. the minneapolis saint paul area and its suburbs. 2. everywhere else in the state.

I don't know about keeping the "trash" away. I've met some very low class people out in the "country". However, if you want to get away from people, you can drive miles without seeing a house out in the farmland of MN.

I don't think that I've once seen a homeless person in the city. Not to say that it doesn't exist...just not seen. I like how the city and most small towns appear to be clean even if their roots are industrial. There is a lot of pride. Without a doubt there is a BIG difference between the MSP metro area and the rest of MN. It all depends on what you want.

[solveg]

We haven't really had a "winter" here since 1996. It used be that the second week of January or so, you had a stretch of 5-6 days where it never got above 0, and was 20-30 below at night. In 96, we had a January thaw, and then an ice storm, which cut out a lot of people's power. Then it was 20 below for something like 4 days... with no power.

We haven't had the usual amount of snow, either. I bought a dogsled in 97 and my dogs died before we had enough snow to really use it a lot.

As for making friends, it is true I have heard that we don't tend to welcome new people. I've heard (and it struck a chord of truth to me) that we make our friends in childhood and don't really need new ones. I'd like to think that isn't true, though.

[drhell2pay]

Originally Posted by elfyum

Now WAIT a minute here!!! I have bever been to MN, but have you ever been to THE EVERGLADES??? In the SUMMER????????? When you get to the visitor center they ask if you have "full gear"! Here's what you hear-the whole time- "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"!!!!!!!! My FACE was bitten up WITH repellent!!!!!!! (No, we did NOT have "full gear"! But better believe we will before we hike The Everglades again! Which we WILL one day-I love it there! ) I do believe we have have a bigger "stick to shake" atcha!

Having lived in Florida for 4 years (Ft. Walton Beach) in Mississippi (Biloxi/Gulfport) for 1 year and in Minnesota now for 9. I can honestly tell you that Minnesota has WAY more mosquitos than the entire south put together. Sure you visited a gigantic swampy area which is the perfect breeding grounds for mosquitos. However, most people don't live in the Everglades - unless they're toting banjos and wearing overalls.

Minnesota has more shoreline than any other state in the union. Over 15,000 lakes makes for a much more fertile ground than you can imagine. There is more swamp land here in Minnesota than in Florida as well.

In my humble opinion...Minnesota wins the Mosquito debate because most people can leave the everglades tourist destination...In Minnesota you pretty much have to leave your house, which in the summer means you ARE going to get bitten. The longer you stay outside, the more you will get bitten.

[elfyum]

I cannot believe there are more mosquitos there...Sorry! The way I see it, it might be the same,
(just walked outside to put in a load of laundry-could NOT have been out more than 10 mins and have 2/3 bites! And this is 9pm! And my only exposed skin was arms-of course where they got me! When I go now to put the drying in I'm going to wear my Buzz Off clothing! If you indeed have mucho mosquitos I recommend this "gear"!)
but we have more warm weather! You guys get cold in what Sept? We don't cool off til Nov and it's still not cool by most people's standards! (Me I'm cold <80!)
So we win!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by elfyum

I cannot believe there are more mosquitos there...Sorry! The way I see it, it might be the same,
(just walked outside to put in a load of laundry-could NOT have been out more than 10 mins and have 2/3 bites! And this is 9pm! And my only exposed skin was arms-of course where they got me! When I go now to put the drying in I'm going to wear my Buzz Off clothing! If you indeed have mucho mosquitos I recommend this "gear"!)
but we have more warm weather! You guys get cold in what Sept? We don't cool off til Nov and it's still not cool by most people's standards! (Me I'm cold <80!)
So we win!

If I did that at 9:00 at night I would probably have 50 bites. I put my dog out last night, was on our deck for all of 2 minutes and had about 10 bites, this is in a dry, we don't have many mosquitoes summer too.

[Mark S.]

My wife and I were in the upper Midwest in late May. Bad as the mosquitoes were in Minnesota (and they were bad), Minnesota had nothing on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Driving westward along the U.P., I kept seeing large black clouds of something swirling in the air. I realized they were bugs --- vast swarms of mosquitoes, literally millions of them all along the shoreline.

[elfyum]

Wow! I guess they're bad all over! My dad was just telling me that there are lots in MA too! The only reason Miami/SO FL has you all beat is because of how long our season is...Otherwise...Wow! Who'dathunk? (Well actually they were pretty bad in Central Park & Upstate NY in the summers too!) Pesky little critters ain't they?!

[Beau Carlson]

1. The People
2. The Outdoors
3. The Lake (Superior)
4. "Mickey's Diner" on 7th in St. Paul

[jenne03]

I saw that some people list drugs as a big con to the state....But they are everywhere! I don't live there..looking to move there..but don't think drugs are a fair representation...Lived in a suburb in Pitt...Pitt is very friendly and great...The high school there was on the news as a top heroin school...In NJ...my high schools were rampant with cocaine..and they were the best schools in South Jersey...Here in Md they have a lot of drugs in the school also..I think drugs are bad everywhere..

Syracuse has Tons of mosquitos too!!