St. Louis, MO to mankato, MN (Rochester, Maple Grove: real estate, custom home, neighborhood)

[js3121]

I am thinking of moving. I have heard it is expensive there.
Please help identify what the additional expenses may be?
Is a 10% hike in salary enough to offset the higher cost of living in MN?

[Dingler]

Mankato is a nice town with a large middle class and a college with adds culture to the community. The cost of living should be less than Saint Louis.

[TimtheGuy]

I agree with Dingler. The twin city metro would probably be an increase to cost of living mostly due to housing. But, Mankato will probably be a less expensive place to live than St. Louis. Housing is much more reasonable there.

[golfgal]

I used a cost of living comparison Cost of Living comparison calculator to go from St. Louis, MO to Rochester, MN (the closest one they had to Mankato of similar size) and according to that you would need about $2000/year more in Mankato then in St. Louis and that is probably right. I would say from my experience with my Dad in O'Fallon, MO that the housing prices in that area are $100,000-150,000 LESS then they are for a similar house in our area and probably $75,000 less then in Mankato.

[Tifosi24]

I did my undergraduate work at MSU, Mankato and I had the experience of working two summers as a building inspector in North Mankato (North Mankato isn't a suburb, but more a sister city across the river). I haven't lived in St Louis, but I found Mankato on the whole comparable or just a little cheaper than Des Moines, my hometown, in terms of housing costs. It is cheap for here, but you can get a really nice home, 4 or 5 bedrooms 2500+ sq.ft., in the Mankato area for less than 225k. There are a lot of other areas with older homes that are more affordable and have a lot of character. I graduated a couple years ago, but I still make it back a few times a year, so I am move than happy to help you in your future move. I love Mankato and wish I could have got a job in my field there.

[Jeremy R]

a lot cheaper then St. Louis. Being in the Real Estate industry I can say that you can find nice home in Mankato for as low as $100,000. I do not know what homes around St. Louis go for but I can only imagine that they cost more than $100,000 if you want to live outside of the ghetto.

If there is anything I can help you with, let me know.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Jeremy R

a lot cheaper then St. Louis. Being in the Real Estate industry I can say that you can find nice home in Mankato for as low as $100,000. I do not know what homes around St. Louis go for but I can only imagine that they cost more than $100,000 if you want to live outside of the ghetto.

If there is anything I can help you with, let me know.

Being in the real estate industry you could probably research this answer more before posting. You would be HARD pressed to find a nice home in Mankato for $100,000. You might be able to find a tiny starter home in an ok neighborhood for that but the Mankato home prices are much higher then you think. Also, Missouri home prices are much lower then you think. I know my Dad's neighborhood outside of St. Louis, a similar suburb to Maple Grove, growing by leaps and bounds, etc. the houses go for about $250,000-300,000 and in Maple Grove that same house would EASILY get $500,000. My Dad's house is about 4000 sq feet, totally custom home (they designed the house), granite kitchen, upgrades galore and they HOPE to get $275,000 when they sell the house.

[ajf131]

Quite a transition you're making. the lower Midwest to the Upper Upper Midwest. Been to Mankato...great place. Better than this part of the Midwest IMO.

[vinyl]

Mankato is nothing like Rochester. Don't use it as a comparison, just because they are relatively close to each other (and they aren't that close even, it's about the same distance to Rochester as the Twin Cities metro).

Put simply, Mankato has plenty of cheap places, but these mostly tend to be student areas, and not the best condition. Here's a good map. The figures are most likely 2000 numbers so they've inflated since then, but it gives you a good idea of the makeup. There's no doubt you could get a house for under $100k in Mankato, but it'll be close to a century old if not older, in a very dirty neighborhood (get used to seeing plastic cups by the side of the road) and surrounded by drunks and drug dealers. However, Mankato's middle class residential areas are still relatively cheap, and much cheaper than any major metro area. You could also consider one of the nearby commuter towns. I'm sure you could find a nice-sized house in Lake Crystal for a reasonable price, and not have to put up with the excess of college life.