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What are the biggest pros and cons of the area for you? Overall, do you like it better or worse than where you were (or have been) before?
I visited Minneapolis with someone who was from there, and I wasn't blown away by any means -- it seemed like a nice place with cool local businesses, but not really my favorite type of city (I'm from the South). In the past couple months, however, the place has been constantly growing on me in my mind, to the point that I've actually started looking for jobs in the area. I don't know if I'm misguided or if it's a genuine feeling (I've had a place grow on me before, and ended up living there for 5 years and enjoying my time).
Just trying to get some outsider perspective, as according to my friend the vast number of transplants to the area are from the upper Midwest (so not a ton of culture shock for them).
I have lived in NJ, Chicago, and Wisconsin before here. By far I enjoy Mn the most.
Pros:ease of living, great economy, healthy culture, great amenities, moderate cost of living, low crime, cleanliness, somewhat cosmopolitan for the Midwest, the lakes, the state fair, strong education system, fairly natural disaster resistant, great airport, 4 major sports teams
Cons: gray skies, bitter cold, few exciting road trips to be had, flat, mn nice passive aggressiveness
I have lived in NJ, Chicago, and Wisconsin before here. By far I enjoy Mn the most.
Pros:ease of living, great economy, healthy culture, great amenities, moderate cost of living, low crime, cleanliness, somewhat cosmopolitan for the Midwest, the lakes, the state fair, strong education system, fairly natural disaster resistant, great airport, 4 major sports teams
Cons: gray skies, bitter cold, few exciting road trips to be had, flat, mn nice passive aggressiveness
Pros: Gray skies, the bitter cold because you get to be outside and have lots of fun, a lot of very exciting road trips that take you to places that are remote and wild.
I have lived in NJ, Chicago, and Wisconsin before here. By far I enjoy Mn the most.
Pros:ease of living, great economy, healthy culture, great amenities, moderate cost of living, low crime, cleanliness, somewhat cosmopolitan for the Midwest, the lakes, the state fair, strong education system, fairly natural disaster resistant, great airport, 4 major sports teams
Cons: gray skies, bitter cold, few exciting road trips to be had, flat, mn nice passive aggressiveness
Quote:
Originally Posted by demtion35
Pros: Gray skies, the bitter cold because you get to be outside and have lots of fun, a lot of very exciting road trips that take you to places that are remote and wild.
And people who are nice but know when to share their feelings and when not to.
I've lived in NYC, Toronto, South Florida, NC (Chapel Hill), and Atlanta previously. Moved here 18ish months ago (sight unseen) and we LOVE it here.
I wouldn't have necessarily wanted to live here in my early 20s when I was single (then I was living in NYC)-- but, now, if you're career focused (high wages, low employment, relatively low cost of living) or family focused (great schools, affordable housing, tons of fun events, etc)-- there are few places better. Plus there's a highly educated populace, people tend to be friendly/helpful, and great sports, restaurants, tons of outdoor activities, and spring/summer/fall are just perfect. Winter is cold-- but there's still tons to do (or you can go from your heated home to your heated garage to your heated office and back again-- but where's the fun in that?)
If you're living in Minneapolis or St Paul, approximately half of the population is from elsewhere (not sure what percentage of those are from other Upper Midwestern states, though)-- even where I live, out in the western 'burbs, I know of tons of transplants from other (distant states)-- in just my (small-ish) social circle, I have friends from CA, KY, NC, NY, FL, TX, MA, CT plus people from other countries such as Canada and Finland (plus, of course, people from neighboring states).
Hi, I am from Southern California (Lived in SD, OC, LA) and I moved here 2 years ago. I briefly lived in Boston/Portland Maine area and DC metro. By far and I mean literally by the furthest margin I absolutely hate living in Minneapolis. This area is unlike any other place I have been too and I am not talking about the weather either. Let's look at the cons:
CONS:
- The people: you will never meet group of people more passive aggressive, reserved, back-stabbing cliquish than Minnesotans--FACT! "Minnesota-Nice" is an euphemism for extreme passive-aggression, cold and indirect and unwelcoming behavior that is so common here. The passive aggression and the general lack of courtesy is so prevalent that even drivers will run you off the road-- Minnesota has the highest accident rates in the country and it reflects on their auto insurances. You don't believe me check out the links I will post below.
- The roads: People joke that the roads were designed by drunk Irish man. Again I have yet to see such unorganized, hazardous roads in my life til I moved here. For ex. when you merge into freeways you merge right into traffic-- there is no designated merging lanes like you would see in California or DC or even Boston for that matter. Exiting from the freeway can either be on the left or right (there is no telling which one it is and until its too late). Freeway lanes change from 4 to 3 to 2 or even 1 lanes unexpectedly. City roads can become 1 way outta the blue... the same road can be 1 way in one street and 2 way on the next street.
-The auto-accidents: I have seen more car accidents and wrecks here in 2 years then for the past 20 years of my life. You will see cars missing the front or back, and severely wrecked on the sides, even some have holes and people drive around in them like it's nothing. It so common to even see major accidents in small neighborhood roads- its unbelievable!! Again the reason-- people here don't know how to drive and bring their passive aggressive behavior to the road. Believe me when I say you will learn what it means to have road rage here.
-The housing: Dingy, outdated and dark. Most don't have any amenities to speak of, no indoor laundry no pools or hot-tubs or gyms to speak of. Parking is hassle and parking tickets are given out like it's candy.
-Landlocked- Literally. You will understand what this means, the true meaning of the word. There is no place to run too when you're overwhelmed by the isolation. There are no nice beach towns or major cities near by. There is no scenic drives you can take to clear you mind. There are no nice mountains to hike. It's forever brown, flat land without any noteworthy architect. Depressing is a real thing here. MN has one of the highest mental illness in the country
I can write all night long of the cons (pm me if you have specific questions) but to sum it up... if you want to live a place with passive aggressive, reserved indoors group of people then MN is for you. If you want to have the hardest time of your life making genuine friends then MN is for you. If you like drinking culture then MN is for you (everything here revolves around the bar since there isn't much else to do) If you want to be stuck indoors for all year around except for few days in July/August then MN is for you. If you want to live a place where the classy and the unclassy people are mixed, where the wealthy and poor are mixed, where you cant tell whose college educated and whose a thug then MN is for you. If you like cold gloomy days that blend with the nights for 85% of the year then MN is for you. And most of all if you want to live a place where you will feel unwelcome and isolated no matter how hard you try then MN is for you.
PRO:
-Jobs. thats about it.
Check out this extensive blog about Minneapolis/St.Paul from outsiders perspectives:
Hi, I am from Southern California (Lived in SD, OC, LA) and I moved here 2 years ago. I briefly lived in Boston/Portland Maine area and DC metro. By far and I mean literally by the furthest margin I absolutely hate living in Minneapolis. This area is unlike any other place I have been too and I am not talking about the weather either. Let's look at the cons:
CONS:
- The people: you will never meet group of people more passive aggressive, reserved, back-stabbing cliquish than Minnesotans--FACT! "Minnesota-Nice" is an euphemism for extreme passive-aggression, cold and indirect and unwelcoming behavior that is so common here. The passive aggression and the general lack of courtesy is so prevalent that even drivers will run you off the road-- Minnesota has the highest accident rates in the country and it reflects on their auto insurances. You don't believe me check out the links I will post below.
- The roads: People joke that the roads were designed by drunk Irish man. Again I have yet to see such unorganized, hazardous roads in my life til I moved here. For ex. when you merge into freeways you merge right into traffic-- there is no designated merging lanes like you would see in California or DC or even Boston for that matter. Exiting from the freeway can either be on the left or right (there is no telling which one it is and until its too late). Freeway lanes change from 4 to 3 to 2 or even 1 lanes unexpectedly. City roads can become 1 way outta the blue... the same road can be 1 way in one street and 2 way on the next street.
-The auto-accidents: I have seen more car accidents and wrecks here in 2 years then for the past 20 years of my life. You will see cars missing the front or back, and severely wrecked on the sides, even some have holes and people drive around in them like it's nothing. It so common to even see major accidents in small neighborhood roads- its unbelievable!! Again the reason-- people here don't know how to drive and bring their passive aggressive behavior to the road. Believe me when I say you will learn what it means to have road rage here.
-The housing: Dingy, outdated and dark. Most don't have any amenities to speak of, no indoor laundry no pools or hot-tubs or gyms to speak of. Parking is hassle and parking tickets are given out like it's candy.
-Landlocked- Literally. You will understand what this means, the true meaning of the word. There is no place to run too when you're overwhelmed by the isolation. There are no nice beach towns or major cities near by. There is no scenic drives you can take to clear you mind. There are no nice mountains to hike. It's forever brown, flat land without any noteworthy architect. Depressing is a real thing here. MN has one of the highest mental illness in the country
I can write all night long of the cons (pm me if you have specific questions) but to sum it up... if you want to live a place with passive aggressive, reserved indoors group of people then MN is for you. If you want to have the hardest time of your life making genuine friends then MN is for you. If you like drinking culture then MN is for you (everything here revolves around the bar since there isn't much else to do) If you want to be stuck indoors for all year around except for few days in July/August then MN is for you. If you want to live a place where the classy and the unclassy people are mixed, where the wealthy and poor are mixed, where you cant tell whose college educated and whose a thug then MN is for you. If you like cold gloomy days that blend with the nights for 85% of the year then MN is for you. And most of all if you want to live a place where you will feel unwelcome and isolated no matter how hard you try then MN is for you.
PRO:
-Jobs. thats about it.
Check out this extensive blog about Minneapolis/St.Paul from outsiders perspectives:
Hi, I am from Southern California (Lived in SD, OC, LA) and I moved here 2 years ago. I briefly lived in Boston/Portland Maine area and DC metro. By far and I mean literally by the furthest margin I absolutely hate living in Minneapolis. This area is unlike any other place I have been too and I am not talking about the weather either. Let's look at the cons:
CONS:
- The people: you will never meet group of people more passive aggressive, reserved, back-stabbing cliquish than Minnesotans--FACT! "Minnesota-Nice" is an euphemism for extreme passive-aggression, cold and indirect and unwelcoming behavior that is so common here. The passive aggression and the general lack of courtesy is so prevalent that even drivers will run you off the road-- Minnesota has the highest accident rates in the country and it reflects on their auto insurances. You don't believe me check out the links I will post below.
- The roads: People joke that the roads were designed by drunk Irish man. Again I have yet to see such unorganized, hazardous roads in my life til I moved here. For ex. when you merge into freeways you merge right into traffic-- there is no designated merging lanes like you would see in California or DC or even Boston for that matter. Exiting from the freeway can either be on the left or right (there is no telling which one it is and until its too late). Freeway lanes change from 4 to 3 to 2 or even 1 lanes unexpectedly. City roads can become 1 way outta the blue... the same road can be 1 way in one street and 2 way on the next street.
-The auto-accidents: I have seen more car accidents and wrecks here in 2 years then for the past 20 years of my life. You will see cars missing the front or back, and severely wrecked on the sides, even some have holes and people drive around in them like it's nothing. It so common to even see major accidents in small neighborhood roads- its unbelievable!! Again the reason-- people here don't know how to drive and bring their passive aggressive behavior to the road. Believe me when I say you will learn what it means to have road rage here.
-The housing: Dingy, outdated and dark. Most don't have any amenities to speak of, no indoor laundry no pools or hot-tubs or gyms to speak of. Parking is hassle and parking tickets are given out like it's candy.
-Landlocked- Literally. You will understand what this means, the true meaning of the word. There is no place to run too when you're overwhelmed by the isolation. There are no nice beach towns or major cities near by. There is no scenic drives you can take to clear you mind. There are no nice mountains to hike. It's forever brown, flat land without any noteworthy architect. Depressing is a real thing here. MN has one of the highest mental illness in the country
I can write all night long of the cons (pm me if you have specific questions) but to sum it up... if you want to live a place with passive aggressive, reserved indoors group of people then MN is for you. If you want to have the hardest time of your life making genuine friends then MN is for you. If you like drinking culture then MN is for you (everything here revolves around the bar since there isn't much else to do) If you want to be stuck indoors for all year around except for few days in July/August then MN is for you. If you want to live a place where the classy and the unclassy people are mixed, where the wealthy and poor are mixed, where you cant tell whose college educated and whose a thug then MN is for you. If you like cold gloomy days that blend with the nights for 85% of the year then MN is for you. And most of all if you want to live a place where you will feel unwelcome and isolated no matter how hard you try then MN is for you.
PRO:
-Jobs. thats about it.
Check out this extensive blog about Minneapolis/St.Paul from outsiders perspectives:
Hi, I am from Southern California (Lived in SD, OC, LA) and I moved here 2 years ago. I briefly lived in Boston/Portland Maine area and DC metro. By far and I mean literally by the furthest margin I absolutely hate living in Minneapolis. This area is unlike any other place I have been too and I am not talking about the weather either. Let's look at the cons:
CONS:
- The people: you will never meet group of people more passive aggressive, reserved, back-stabbing cliquish than Minnesotans--FACT! "Minnesota-Nice" is an euphemism for extreme passive-aggression, cold and indirect and unwelcoming behavior that is so common here. The passive aggression and the general lack of courtesy is so prevalent that even drivers will run you off the road-- Minnesota has the highest accident rates in the country and it reflects on their auto insurances. You don't believe me check out the links I will post below.
- The roads: People joke that the roads were designed by drunk Irish man. Again I have yet to see such unorganized, hazardous roads in my life til I moved here. For ex. when you merge into freeways you merge right into traffic-- there is no designated merging lanes like you would see in California or DC or even Boston for that matter. Exiting from the freeway can either be on the left or right (there is no telling which one it is and until its too late). Freeway lanes change from 4 to 3 to 2 or even 1 lanes unexpectedly. City roads can become 1 way outta the blue... the same road can be 1 way in one street and 2 way on the next street.
-The auto-accidents: I have seen more car accidents and wrecks here in 2 years then for the past 20 years of my life. You will see cars missing the front or back, and severely wrecked on the sides, even some have holes and people drive around in them like it's nothing. It so common to even see major accidents in small neighborhood roads- its unbelievable!! Again the reason-- people here don't know how to drive and bring their passive aggressive behavior to the road. Believe me when I say you will learn what it means to have road rage here.
-The housing: Dingy, outdated and dark. Most don't have any amenities to speak of, no indoor laundry no pools or hot-tubs or gyms to speak of. Parking is hassle and parking tickets are given out like it's candy.
-Landlocked- Literally. You will understand what this means, the true meaning of the word. There is no place to run too when you're overwhelmed by the isolation. There are no nice beach towns or major cities near by. There is no scenic drives you can take to clear you mind. There are no nice mountains to hike. It's forever brown, flat land without any noteworthy architect. Depressing is a real thing here. MN has one of the highest mental illness in the country
I can write all night long of the cons (pm me if you have specific questions) but to sum it up... if you want to live a place with passive aggressive, reserved indoors group of people then MN is for you. If you want to have the hardest time of your life making genuine friends then MN is for you. If you like drinking culture then MN is for you (everything here revolves around the bar since there isn't much else to do) If you want to be stuck indoors for all year around except for few days in July/August then MN is for you. If you want to live a place where the classy and the unclassy people are mixed, where the wealthy and poor are mixed, where you cant tell whose college educated and whose a thug then MN is for you. If you like cold gloomy days that blend with the nights for 85% of the year then MN is for you. And most of all if you want to live a place where you will feel unwelcome and isolated no matter how hard you try then MN is for you.
PRO:
-Jobs. thats about it.
Check out this extensive blog about Minneapolis/St.Paul from outsiders perspectives:
Unless you're in school, it's challenging to meet people, let alone forging close friendships ANYWHERE. It's significantly easier if you have kids or a very social workplace. Yes, it might be a bit more challenging in a place that has a high percentage of natives, but when fully half of the residents in Minneapolis are from elsewhere, it's hard to imagine that you haven't been able to meet ANYONE that you want to hang out with and vice versa.
As far as the links you included, you can also find tons that say the opposite-- best place to live, great schools, great job market, best outdoor city, healthiest city, low COL, great restaurant scene, all four major sports, etc. Also,EVERY city will have vocal detractor-- I *loved* living in NYC, but tons of people HATE it. Also, there's a LOT about South Florida that I dislike, but I did have a wonderful group of friends so the rest of the stuff that irked me didn't matter. Happiness, to a large extent, is a CHOICE.
If you're living in somewhere such as, say, Elk River or Buffalo, which are not only suburban but also kid-centric (as in small children) AND almost certainly filled with people who are born and bred in MN-- then you're not doing yourself any favors.
I would agree with your assessment about the highways being poorly designed-- but I'll take the bass-ackwards design over a traffic jam on the 405 every.damn.day. It can upwards of 2 hours to travel 30 miles in NYC, Chicago, and LA. And yes, we're (obviously) landlocked, but the lakes are GORGEOUS-- I grew up and lived in South Florida, so I do miss the beach something fierce-- thankfully a $200ish flight can cure that ill and quickly.
You don't have to locked inside 10 months of the year, unless you choose to be. But if you don't embrace the winter, then you might as well leave. Not that winter is 10 months long, because it's not-- but because it's no fun shuttling from your heated house to your heated car to your heated office and back.
Rents aren't low here, but housing (purchase) prices ARE-- you can still buy a house, in virtually every suburb and the best neighborhoods in MSP for under $300K; and townhomes, twinhomes and condos can be had for even less. Contrast that to Southern Cal (and I'm an executive recruiter and many of my clients are in Southern Cal, so I'm intimately familiar with the COL and housing in that region)-- where it's near impossible to find a 3 bedroom home for under $500K (in most desirable areas, that's a pipe dream, at best!) in a school district where you'd be willing to send a kid to school-- and the salaries there aren't high enough to mitigate the housing price discrepancy (in fact, for the same positions, often with the same companies, the salaries are either the same or just slightly lower here in MSP than they are in CA)
As I said before, this likely is NOT where I'd choose if I were single-- but if you're looking for a place where you can be a homeowner by 30 and still have enough left over to fund your 401K AND to travel, there are few places better.
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