Nice new Minneapolis suburbs (St. Paul, Duluth: middle-class, rent, crime)

[Colorado 303]

Originally Posted by wamer27

I'm from MN and just went to CSU for a year and loved it, but didn't enjoy the out of state tuition so I left, but moved back to Ft Collins after college for a bit. We're looking at possible future move to Evergreen. I love how all the buildings at CU match and Pearl St is always entertaining.

Our highways are laid out well, we only have a few major rivers as obstacles. I wouldn't look at Mounds View, if you found a house there for $500k they'd name the town after you! The next city north of there is Blaine and there's a lot of new development. The TPC golf course in Blaine hosts a senior tour event every year, so it's a nice newer area.

Fort Collins is a nice place. I never really liked small towns but evergreen isn't too far from Denver so it wouldn't be that bad. CU was by far my favorite college, too bad they don't have a pharmacy school. I heard something about the north side having a lot of rednecks, is this true? And I heard that the outer west suburbs were nice like the ones I listed at first.

[Colorado 303]

I don't really like the heat, that's why I want to go north haha. Every time I go to Texas to visit family in the summer it seems like I'm always in a bad mood because its so hot. How humid is it in the summer? Comparable to like Dallas or Houston? Denver really doesn't have humidity. Also why is it humid, because of all the lakes?

[wamer27]

Originally Posted by Colorado 303

Fort Collins is a nice place. I never really liked small towns but evergreen isn't too far from Denver so it wouldn't be that bad. CU was by far my favorite college, too bad they don't have a pharmacy school. I heard something about the north side having a lot of rednecks, is this true? And I heard that the outer west suburbs were nice like the ones I listed at first.

Your thoughts of the northern suburbs usually hold true. The real money in twin cities are in the western suburbs, lake Minnetonka to be most specific. It's also more newer development there, like you were looking for in the original post.

As far as humidity, it does have to with all the surface water and precipitatation we get. It's never bothered me and I've worked outside for 17 years, but maybe I'm just used to it. I do know its nothing compared to the south.

Figure Evergreen, Conifer, western Golden, where you can be somewhat secluded in trees and mountains but not too far from modern conveniences.

[Kayekaye]

I'd say August is the most humid month, it can be pretty bad, but short lived most years. We do get quite a lot of mosquitos because of the humidity too.

I think your choice of Maple Grove is quite nice for working at the VA. And thanks, by the way, for looking at working at the VA. My Dad was there and the staff was very nice.

[Colorado 303]

Thank you everyone! For being so helpfull. Is there any reason why the area isn't too diverse? I know Minneapolis has some diversity but some of the suburbs are over 90% white. Also, is there a lot of racist people or anything? I'm half Hispanic but people never know unless I tell them.

[Colorado 303]

Originally Posted by Kayekaye

I'd say August is the most humid month, it can be pretty bad, but short lived most years. We do get quite a lot of mosquitos because of the humidity too.

I think your choice of Maple Grove is quite nice for working at the VA. And thanks, by the way, for looking at working at the VA. My Dad was there and the staff was very nice.

Oh yeah, I heard that you guys get huge mosquitos over there. I've had a couple family members go to the VA, that's where I got the idea. Kind of a weird dream job.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Colorado 303

Thank you everyone! For being so helpfull. Is there any reason why the area isn't too diverse? I know Minneapolis has some diversity but some of the suburbs are over 90% white. Also, is there a lot of racist people or anything? I'm half Hispanic but people never know unless I tell them.

Why, because historically MN is a white settlement, we are pretty far away from Texas and Florida . Racism exists to some extent on an individual basis but overall, it's a highly educated area and most people really don't care what color your skin is. The worst problems you would mainly see would be between various gangs, but that's not going to be an issue for you unless you choose to move to Minneapolis and join a gang .

[Mdcastle]

Minnesota was settled by Scandanavians and Germans, for the most part, and never had the level of industry of Chicago or Detroit to attract blacks in the northern migration (which also means it's suffered less in the rusting of said industry). Hispanics seem to take entry level jobs in harvesting or meat packing, of which there isn't a lot of here compared to other states. There aren't a lot of suburbs that poor people can afford and get to their job without a car, so that's why the suburbs tend to be middle to upper class whites. Also there's just the physical distance, we're about as far as you can get from Mexico or the former slave states or either coast.

[Thegonagle]

Another thing: since there weren't very many black people to begin with, Minneapolis never suffered from the extensive economic damage "white flight" caused in other inner-city areas. That's why when some of us say "you don't need to look to the suburbs to find nice neighborhoods and good schools," we mean exactly that. It's quite a bit different here compared to most urban areas, and we're quite proud of that fact.

[jblair0023]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Minneapolis is cooler in the summer on average and somewhat colder in the winter. See the following charts:

Comparison of Denver and Minneapolis -

Climatology Comparison for Denver, CO - weather.com

THANK YOU for these links! I have been searching for months for a way to compare climates between several areas! This just sucked up the past hour of my time and promises to suck up more in the future!

(P.S. There's a chance I might move from Duluth to the MSP area in a few years and this thread was starting to scare me about the humidity.... until I compared the two and realized that Duluth is actually more humid! LOL. I'm sure on those hot August days it won't feel better (higher temp overall), but still, this does give me hope!