Neighborhood and Rent help (Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park: fit in, apartment, to rent)

[mangopaco]

I'm moving my family of four (myself, wife, two kids under 4) to Minneapolis this summer. I'm taking a job with Minneapolis Public Schools - have an early contract but no set site yet.

We're from NYC and would love to stay within the city. My wife is a stay-at-home mom and will slowly get back to work as the kids get older, so I'll be the primary income for a bit.

We'd like a safe neighborhood, walkable, and with a good family feel. In my trips there I've really liked Longfellow and Northeast. The question is, can we afford it? Are there any other affordable neighborhoods you recommend we look at?

We're looking to rent when we first get there, to get a feel for the city, really pin down the neighborhoods we'd want to buy in, etc. I'm looking at a gross pay of $64k annually. Does anyone know approximately how much bi-weekly net this gets me?

[xandrex]

I would recommend using a paycheck calculator that you can find in various places online to determine what your take-home pay will be.

As for affordability, I would think that Longfellow and Northeast would both fit into your budget quite nicely, depending on what type of house you're looking for.

A few questions:
Are you the sole earner in the household, or will your wife be working?
What's your housing budget?
What type of house do you want?
What's your ideal neighborhood? Few neighborhoods--if any--are NYC-level walkable, so tell us what walkable means to you.
Do you drive (how many cars will you have and will you be using them to get to work)?

[golfgal]

I'm assuming you are a teacher--but maybe not. If you are a teacher, about 7.5% of your pay has to go into your retirement account (for that "Free" retirement everyone talks about for teachers-not) so that takes a chunk off the top so if you use a calculator factor that in but roughly $3000/month take home depending on how much health insurance costs--it's not free, contrary to what people think.

A 2 bedroom apartment in a nice, safe neighborhood is going to run $1000+ month, cheep compared to NYC standards but kind of expensive on that salary, but manageable.

Have your wife look into the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program. It's a wonderful way to meet people kids kids the same ages and the programs for the kids and parents are great, especially for a stay at home mom!

[uptown_urbanist]

We love Uptown. There seem to be lots of former New Yorkers floating around here, too -- probably because it is one of the more urban, walkable areas of the city. CARAG is, I think, particularly nice for families. Bryant Square Park is always a hub of activity.

How much money will you have to spend on housing? We can justify spend a little bit more because we don't own a car. Our place is REALLY nice and would easily fit a family of 4; we pay about $1700 including utilities. You should be able to get a decent 2-BR apartment or duplex in the area for significantly less than that, however.

Longfellow and NE are going to be more affordable than Uptown, so if you like those areas I do think you can probably find something that you like that you can afford.

[Justabitoff]

I just moved here from NYC (well, Westchester, but I lived in NYC), although our situations are different but I sympathize with the change you're going to be making!

I agree with the payroll calculator. I don't think anyone can tell you exactly how much you'll make because it's dependent on too many things. My husband makes $56K and we can afford $1400 in rent. We do not have children though... I wanted a 2 bedroom apt and did not find much in Minneapolis that I liked. Not that they didn't exist, but they just weren't new enough for me. I wanted a laundry room, parking, etc. I found that easier in the suburbs, but that's not to say you can't find that in MPLS.

MPLS is much more suburban feeling than NYC, except in Uptown and in Downtown. Otherwise you'll have blocks and blocks of just houses. It's nice, don't get me wrong, just very different. But there are parks galore and public transportation isn't too bad, so I think your wife and kids will be fine even if things aren't super close by. Especially since the winters here are so long, walkable only gets you so far since most of the time you won't want to be outside!

[earslikeacat]

I came here 3 years ago and live on the very west end of Minnie. I highly recomend u stay out of northeast. It is the high crime area and not to be looked up to at all. It was 30 years ago. Find out ur school district first and go from there. Commutes can be rough in winter so work and live as close together as possible. Brooklyn Park brookyn center are high crime suburbs to steer clear from. Good luck! You'll like it!

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Your bi-weekly net pay would be $1955.56 based on the the following assumptions:

64k annual salary
Setting both federal and state status to "married" and "3" for exemptions.
No other deductions were taken for insurance or retirement accounts

[Duk123]

Originally Posted by earslikeacat

I came here 3 years ago and live on the very west end of Minnie. I highly recomend u stay out of northeast. It is the high crime area and not to be looked up to at all. It was 30 years ago. Find out ur school district first and go from there. Commutes can be rough in winter so work and live as close together as possible. Brooklyn Park brookyn center are high crime suburbs to steer clear from. Good luck! You'll like it!

First it's North Minneapolis which is the high crime area. North Minneapolis is on the west side of the Mississippi River. Northeast Minneapolis a fairly nice area filled with art galleries, ethnic restaurants and hipsters on the east side of the Mississippi.

Second many areas of North Minneapolis are very nice with low crime unfortunately it's difficult of some new to the area to know which parts are safe and which aren't.