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Of those three choices I'd say you can't go too wrong.
Minneapolis has very nice and sunny winter weather but it's really freaking cold. I spent a winter in MN and though I though the sunny winter days were great, that sort of extreme cold must be taken seriously. Portland and Seattle are also great cities but remember both are in the Pacific Northwest and winters though not particularly cold are very long and wet. You could go for months without seeing the sun. If you're a sun worshiper then Minnesota is much sunnier. Of the 3, I personally like Portland the best. I like the many Class IV rivers and creeks in the area. I like to kayak.
Minneapolis is by far the safest. Minnesotans have a saying, "Sure it's cold but it keeps out the riff-raff." There are people who've theorized that Minneapolis doesn't actually exist and was actually a large movie set created for the Mary Tyler Moore show. The people in MN think that the Twin Cities is a crime infested cesspool but they really don't have anything to compare to. Minnesotans are so honest they sort of freaked me out. I always told them the ghettos of Minneapolis were nicer and safer than half the the upper middle class suburbs in CA.
I can't say I'm an expert on Mass transit since I can count the times I've used it on one hand. I have a motorcycle, a bike, a boat , and a truck so I'm pretty well set. I'm told Seattle has the best public transit on the West Coast.
I think any of the three would be a good choice. Seattle is the most expensive with Portland not too far behind. If budget is a primary concern then Minneapolis wins easily. I liked Minneapolis very much but since MN is 2000 miles away from any ocean it just couldn't meet my need to be near the sea. Lakes, even big ones, just aren't the same.
Spoken like a true suburbanite, Steve-o. I live in St Paul. We have a car, but could easily get along just fine without one. You just have to choose your neighborhood carefully, not fear taxis and public transportation, and perhaps rent a car or join HourCare for those few occaisions when you really do need one.
It was just my personal opinion. I could probably get by in Seattle w/o a car, but Portland and Minneapolis? Probably not. Why? Im a traveller. Portland and Minneapolis are just a little too small for my tastes in larger cities and Id feel "hunkered down" w/o a car to take me any place I choose at any time. Id go bonkers living in either of those 2 w/o a car, and especially in winter in MPLS.
Seattle definitely doesn't outdo Portland or San Francisco on rail transit. We are actually behind the other west coast cities with the exception of maybe San Diego and L.A. We are slowly catching up, but still have a ways to go.
Just for kicks, I went on the Craigslist Seattle page to see what apartments are going for on Capital Hill (where I lived in the early 1990s). Much to my surprise, there are a number of 1 bedrooms available for around $900. (I live in Manhattan and can only dream of such prices.) When I left Minneapolis in 2003, I paid $750 for a similar apartment. Yes, Seattle is more expensive than Minneapolis, but not as much as I would have thought.
Portland, definitely Portland. COL, IMO is rather moot at the moment. So is a restaurant career. Fuhgedaboutit. So with that out of the equation: Portland.
Portland is probably the best without a car, it has the best public transit. I still think Portland is the best choice.
Here are the crime rates for each city(Mineapolis definitely is not the safest):
Seattle-470.3, 24 murders, 90 rapes, 600k people
Portland-479.3, 22 murders, 280 rapes, 550k people
Mineapolis-791.3, 47 murders, 452 rapes, 380k people
Those numbers surprise me. But then again I live in Oakland so everywhere seems pretty safe from my perspective. Most of Oakland is safe too but the bad areas are really bad. I guess I just never saw the bad side of Minneapolis. I didn't actually live there but went there from time to time on business. I lived in a rural area northwest of Minneapolis where the great crime spree of 2004 was the talk of the town. Several trailer hitches went missing that fateful year.
SallyCitrus, you and I have a lot of the same interests and that is why I am moving to Minneapolis. I'd love to live in Portland but West Coast cities are just too expensive and I think I'd need a car in Portland. Seattle is just as expensive as Chicago or San Diego so it's out of the question.
Neither one of these cities have abundant sunshine, but the culture, music, and food of Minneapolis is quite surprising. Nye's was ranked the #1 bar in the US by Esquire Magazine. Minneapolis restaurants are constantly featured on the Food Network (in fact Andrew Zimmern is from Mpls). Minneapolis is bike friendly and has a quickly-improving transit system. Many businesses are connected by skywalks and tunnels.
The thrift stores and eateries on Grand Avenue, Summit, and Uptown are really neat too. Mpls's music scene is very lively too. A lot of good Indie and underground rap artists started in Mpls. Bob Dylan even lived there for a while! You will find plenty of veggie friendly stores too.
Overall, Minneapolis gives you the most for your money. If I coud afford it, I'd go to Portlandin a heartbeat but Minneapolis is nothing short of fantastic. The only thing I hate is that cold winter. And I mean COLD.
I am not saying the Minneapolis is not safe, compared to other large cities it is very safe. I am just saying that Portland and Seattle are two of the safest large cities in the US. I got the data from city-data.com. However, we are getting off-topic.
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. The people in MN think that the Twin Cities is a crime infested cesspool but they really don't have anything to compare to. Minnesotans are so honest they sort of freaked me out. I always told them the ghettos of Minneapolis were nicer and safer than half the the upper middle class suburbs in CA.
