Phoenix vs SLC vs Boise vs Minneapolis/St. Paul (living, best, cost)
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I just joined, because I'm looking for some advice on an upcoming move. My wife and I are ready to move on from St. Louis and start fresh. About us: We're 25-years-old with a 3-yr-old daughter. We will probably have one more kid or two in the future. I work in a risk/compliance function within the financial industry. My wife is a preschool teacher. HH income is around $85-$90K. We will be looking for houses in the $200-$250K range (hence, I've already crossed my preferred city of Denver off the list).
We've narrowed it down to the four cities in the subject. We've visited all over the years and like them all. However, I'm unfamiliar with what it's like to live in any of them. Our priorities are:
1) Moderate cost of living with decent houses in $200-$250K range
2) Good public schools
3) Strong economy with good finance jobs
4) Local family-friendly amenities - parks, museums, zoo, amusement parks, water parks, pro sports
5) Close proximity to national and state parks - this is why Utah is such a strong preference
6) Decent weather for at least a good portion of the year
Being that we have a young daughter, we're not big into nightlife, bars, etc. We don't even plan to live in the city limits (except maybe in Boise). Otherwise, we would probably choose a quieter suburb outside the city limits. They all appear to have their pros and cons. Phoenix has good home prices and Arizona has a ton of natural attractions, but I have heard Phoenix isn't a very clean city and that public schools aren't the greatest. Minneapolis/St Paul appears to have great public schools and affordable housing, but it's kind of far away from any natural beauty and the idea of their winters scare my wife. Boise is beautiful and has cheap housing and good schools, but it seems like it would be more difficult to get a job there than in other cities. I love the amenities and weather of SLC and its proximity to natural beauty, but the housing seems to be getting rather expensive and the public schools don't seem to have very strong rankings. I thought Utah was a very well-educated state, so I was surprised to see the schools being ranked 4 and 5 out of 10 even in the nicer suburbs.
As you can tell, I have a basic knowledge of these cities just through Internet research. If anybody has first-hand knowledge to confirm or deny my concerns about any of these cities, feel free to share. Thanks all!
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanfze55
Hello all,
I just joined, because I'm looking for some advice on an upcoming move. My wife and I are ready to move on from St. Louis and start fresh. About us: We're 25-years-old with a 3-yr-old daughter. We will probably have one more kid or two in the future. I work in a risk/compliance function within the financial industry. My wife is a preschool teacher. HH income is around $85-$90K. We will be looking for houses in the $200-$250K range (hence, I've already crossed my preferred city of Denver off the list).
We've narrowed it down to the four cities in the subject. We've visited all over the years and like them all. However, I'm unfamiliar with what it's like to live in any of them. Our priorities are:
1) Moderate cost of living with decent houses in $200-$250K range
2) Good public schools
3) Strong economy with good finance jobs
4) Local family-friendly amenities - parks, museums, zoo, amusement parks, water parks, pro sports
5) Close proximity to national and state parks - this is why Utah is such a strong preference
6) Decent weather for at least a good portion of the year
Being that we have a young daughter, we're not big into nightlife, bars, etc. We don't even plan to live in the city limits (except maybe in Boise). Otherwise, we would probably choose a quieter suburb outside the city limits. They all appear to have their pros and cons. Phoenix has good home prices and Arizona has a ton of natural attractions, but I have heard Phoenix isn't a very clean city and that public schools aren't the greatest. Minneapolis/St Paul appears to have great public schools and affordable housing, but it's kind of far away from any natural beauty and the idea of their winters scare my wife. Boise is beautiful and has cheap housing and good schools, but it seems like it would be more difficult to get a job there than in other cities. I love the amenities and weather of SLC and its proximity to natural beauty, but the housing seems to be getting rather expensive and the public schools don't seem to have very strong rankings. I thought Utah was a very well-educated state, so I was surprised to see the schools being ranked 4 and 5 out of 10 even in the nicer suburbs.
As you can tell, I have a basic knowledge of these cities just through Internet research. If anybody has first-hand knowledge to confirm or deny my concerns about any of these cities, feel free to share. Thanks all!
Minneapolis/St. Paul is actually quite beautiful, as the area has a lot of pretty lakes, and has what some consider to be one of the best park systems in the country. There's not an ocean or a mountain range, but it's not just cornfields and houses or something like that. However, it IS cold during winter, there is no denying it. For the rest of your factors, if you value great jobs/pay (I'm in Finance and there are a ton of jobs in this field), fairly affordable housing (you can find sub-$250K in the suburbs, but it gets tougher closer to the core), family-friendly activities and major attractions, strong public (i.e. free) schools, and parks/scenery, it's a strong fit. I'd agree though that Utah may have better access to nature/national parks and Phoenix has the best weather of the 3.
Living in Boise is like living in a park because the city has a "park like" appearance and the great outdoors exist within city limits and Boise will have the easiest access to mountains/nature/state parks compared to SLC and Phoenix.
Boise also has a great park system and there is of course a trout river that runs through the center of the city.
If you are into evergreen mountain locations with plenty of running water and lakes, the mountains outside of Boise and towards Central Idaho are going to offer a lot more of that compared to the other two western cities you are interested in.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is actually quite beautiful, as the area has a lot of pretty lakes, and has what some consider to be one of the best park systems in the country. There's not an ocean or a mountain range, but it's not just cornfields and houses or something like that. However, it IS cold during winter, there is no denying it. For the rest of your factors, if you value great jobs/pay (I'm in Finance and there are a ton of jobs in this field), fairly affordable housing (you can find sub-$250K in the suburbs, but it gets tougher closer to the core), family-friendly activities and major attractions, strong public (i.e. free) schools, and parks/scenery, it's a strong fit. I'd agree though that Utah may have better access to nature/national parks and Phoenix has the best weather of the 3.
Good luck with your decision!
Thanks for the kind words. MSP is beautiful, no denying that. I've just heard that the weather isn't ever really nice except for September and maybe October. For a city with such harsh winters, it seems to have very hot and humid summers as well. Tough combo. I guess that's the Midwest for you.
Living in Boise is like living in a park because the city has a "park like" appearance and the great outdoors exist within city limits and Boise will have the easiest access to mountains/nature/state parks compared to SLC and Phoenix.
Boise also has a great park system and there is of course a trout river that runs through the center of the city.
If you are into evergreen mountain locations with plenty of running water and lakes, the mountains outside of Boise and towards Central Idaho are going to offer a lot more of that compared to the other two western cities you are interested in.
If work were not an issue, I'd pack up and move to Boise today. I love the small town feel and proximity to nature. But after searching, I'm not convinced it would be easy to find a good job in my field. COL may be low, but it doesn't seem to be a finance or banking hub. Maybe it'll be my retirement destination!
Thanks for the kind words. MSP is beautiful, no denying that. I've just heard that the weather isn't ever really nice except for September and maybe October. For a city with such harsh winters, it seems to have very hot and humid summers as well. Tough combo. I guess that's the Midwest for you.
Just want to correct this...
MSP has beautiful springs and falls. It does get humid part of the summer, but not as hot as any of the other cities listed, so it all balances out (or goes in MSP's favor vs. Phoenix for example). And for when it does get hot, you have many more lakes to enjoy the weather in as well. That's not to mention the winters, which I think is the best season of all. It all comes down to personal preference, but Minneapolis definitely has great weather in all four seasons for people who can appreciate them.
Thanks for the kind words. MSP is beautiful, no denying that. I've just heard that the weather isn't ever really nice except for September and maybe October. For a city with such harsh winters, it seems to have very hot and humid summers as well. Tough combo. I guess that's the Midwest for you.
If work were not an issue, I'd pack up and move to Boise today. I love the small town feel and proximity to nature. But after searching, I'm not convinced it would be easy to find a good job in my field. COL may be low, but it doesn't seem to be a finance or banking hub. Maybe it'll be my retirement destination!
Boise is actually the banking hub for the state and region and in addition to the big national banks, smaller western banks are opening branches downtown and around the city. I do know that Wells Fargo has a large operations/compliance/risk management center in Boise.
The job openings here have a lot of competition because so many people are relocating to Boise, but Minneapolis/St. Paul and Phoenix are much larger cities with more jobs to choose from. I've lived in SLC and wouldn't recommend it unless you have your heart set on it.
Last edited by Syringaloid; 06-08-2017 at 08:16 AM..
Boise is actually the banking hub for the state and region and in addition to the big national banks, smaller western banks are opening branches downtown and around the city. I do know that Wells Fargo has a large operations/compliance/risk management center in Boise.
The job openings here have a lot of competition because so many people are relocating to Boise, but Minneapolis/St. Paul and Phoenix are much larger cities with more jobs to choose from. I've lived in SLC and wouldn't recommend it unless you have your heart set on it.
I appreciate the feedback. I definitely don't have my heart set on SLC. If I may ask, what is it about SLC that would cause you to not recommend it? My primary concerns were around public schools. For one, even the suburban schools don't seem to rate that well (at least compared to the Midwest). I get that the property taxes are low, but the house prices seem to have risen quite high in the more desirable areas. Even a decent house in Sandy-South Jordan-Draper seems to run $300K+. Maybe someday that'll work, but I can't pull it off now. So I would be concerned if I had to mix the housing prices with private school tuition. I'm not quite certain how the school systems work out West. I've heard charter schools are more common.
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