Possible move to Minneapolis area (St. Paul, Bloomington: home, live, bus)

[peanut's mom]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Where in LA do you live now, and would you like to live somewhere comparable?

For what it's worth, I think you'll find that Minneapolis's suburbs are FAR more stereotypically "suburban" than are many of the LA suburbs. Depends on where you're coming from, of course, but the LA suburbs I was most familiar with tended to be far more densely populated, diverse, and with better dining options than are most of the Twin Cities suburbs. It could easily be a big culture shock.

On the plus side, traffic is much lighter, so even if you end up somewhere like Apple Valley the drive to get somewhere more interesting won't be as unbearably long.

We live in Glendale. It's fine but we don't expect or want to look for a Glendale in Minnesota. Yeah, we figure we'll experience some culture shock. As I said, we're ready for a change. Would like to experience less hubbub, more green space, and lighter traffic.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by peanut's mom

We live in Glendale. It's fine but we don't expect or want to look for a Glendale in Minnesota. Yeah, we figure we'll experience some culture shock. As I said, we're ready for a change. Would like to experience less hubbub, more green space, and lighter traffic.

Sounds like the area around Inver Grove Heights, Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount are what you are looking for. Nice quiet neighborhoods, basically no traffic with the exception of a couple streets, close to the kind of school you want, etc.

[StanleyVegas]

Originally Posted by peanut's mom

We live in Glendale. It's fine but we don't expect or want to look for a Glendale in Minnesota. Yeah, we figure we'll experience some culture shock. As I said, we're ready for a change. Would like to experience less hubbub, more green space, and lighter traffic.

The suburbs here are a lot more spread out than Glendale. Even the cities here feel less dense than most LA suburbs, probably because of the lack of mountains, lots of parks and lakes, and just a lot fewer people in the TC metro overall.

[uptown_urbanist]

Glendale is going to feel like the big city compared to most Twin Cities suburbs.

[StanleyVegas]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Glendale is going to feel like the big city compared to most Twin Cities suburbs.

If Glendale were in MN it would be the third largest city behind Minneapolis & St. Paul.

[peanut's mom]

Third largest city? Wow. That really gives me an idea of what to expect.

I was wondering about cost of living. Looking at craigslist, I can get an idea on rental prices. How about utilities? Especially in the middle of winter and summer. Should I expect to pay more for food (specifically, produce)? I know gas is cheaper.

[uptown_urbanist]

Produce is more expensive, so are utilities. Gas is much cheaper, housing is cheaper, movies are cheaper, parking is cheaper, etc. In other words, most stuff is cheaper except food and utilities.

[west336]

Originally Posted by StanleyVegas

If Glendale were in MN it would be the third largest city behind Minneapolis & St. Paul.

True, but the largest area in a Twin Cities suburb probably isn't larger than 36 square miles....how large is Glendale? Besides, LA suburbs are some of the most densely populated cities in the country, so comparing them to anything in the Twin Cities (an average density city, nationally) is not really relavent.

[west336]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

Produce is more expensive, so are utilities. Gas is much cheaper, housing is cheaper, movies are cheaper, parking is cheaper, etc. In other words, most stuff is cheaper except food and utilities.

HOUSING is the biggie! For every $1 in LA, you would have $4-$5 here for housing!!! So if you figured a decent home in LA would cost roughly $600K, here it'd be $150K (and this city is largely considered "expensive" for the Midwest!).

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by west336

HOUSING is the biggie! For every $1 in LA, you would have $4-$5 here for housing!!! So if you figured a decent home in LA would cost roughly $600K, here it'd be $150K (and this city is largely considered "expensive" for the Midwest!).

You would be hard pressed to find a "descent" house for $150,000 in the Twin Cities...