Is Minnesota a good place to raise a family? (Minneapolis: house, safe area)

[RoseBeauharnais]

Hi Everyone!!!
I'm married and have two young kids, a boy and a girl, 11 & 12 years old!
Is Minnesota a good place to raise kids? Any comments would be much appreciated, we really want to buy a house and settle down, the place doesn't really matter as long as it has good schools and its a safe place....do you all have any suggestions? Thank you so much in advance!

[golfgal]

MN is a great place to raise a family, schools are phenomenal, safe, safe area with very few exceptions. The quality of life here is the best in the nation.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

My parents raised me in the Twin Cities metro area and I'll likely raise my future kids here. I can't speak first-hand for Greater Minnesota but I believe the Twin Cities is a good area to raise a family. Look at it this way, the Twin Cities metro area has 3-4 million people. Do you really think that many people would be willing to tolerate the winter climate if we didn't believe it was a good area for raising our families? If that were the case I'd say most of us would probably be living in southern California or Florida.

[10,000Lakes]

Slig has a good point. It's freakin brutal in the winter, but in my opinion the quality of life makes up for it. Where are you thinking of moving from?

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by 10,000Lakes

Slig has a good point. It's freakin brutal in the winter, but in my opinion the quality of life makes up for it. Where are you thinking of moving from?

The winter certainly is freaking brutal. It's miserable at many points, but like a few have already said, 4 million people in the Twin Cities put up with it. The quality of life, and the three other seasons definitely outweigh the winters.

Minnesota is just an active, educated, hard-working, friendly place.

[uptown_urbanist]

I can't say that I'd like to raise my kid in every neighborhood or town in MN, but yes, overall MN is a great place for families. Not only are the public schools excellent, but the cost of living is pretty low for all you get in return. I don't love the cold, either, but it is worth the trade-off for the high quality of life.

[Wingfoot]

Best places to raise kids in USA are MN,WI,ND and upstate NY.

[Haver]

Children's Health Magazine just put out a list of the 100 best places to raise a family. St Paul came it at 12 and Minneapolis weighs in at 18 (out of 100).

Its really one of our claims to fame - and I do believe people from out of the region migrate here, just to raise their families.

[marmac]

Yes, Minnesota is a great place to raise a family.

Proof is all the families moving from Chicago and Gary Indiana to Minnesota.

( higher welfare benefits help convince people it's a great place also )

[kuan]

I didn't come from Chicago and I didn't come from Gary. I don't know what Marmac has against these folks, but yes, Minnesota is a great place. Embrace winter. We cross country ski, play hockey, and ice fish. That's our winter activity. In fact, even before kids I used to just put on my skates and go knock the puck around with the neighborhood kids in the park.