Looking for suggestions on moving to the Twin Cities from Ohio (Minneapolis: transplants, 2015)

[travelingmidwesterner]

I'm planning to move to the Twin Cities from the Cincinnati, Ohio area. I've visited there and traveled through the airport a couple of times, but otherwise am fairly uninformed on the best places to live for a young person who's looking for affordability and something quiet.

I'm hoping to have to drive very little. Cincinnati is great, but since the area is very "spread out," you almost have to drive to get to a lot of places on time. My job in the Twin Cities will be near the University.

Does anyone have suggestions on areas to look for apartments?

Is the whole thing about "Minnesota nice" true?

Besides the winters, what's different about the lower midwest (like Cincinnati, Columbus, and Indianapolis) and the upper midwest (like Minneapolis-St. Paul)?

[rtloucks]

NO glaring differences, Ive lived all over and find that every city really is a lot like the next. People, scenery and climate are the only things you cant change.

Cold is Cold, 30 20 10 15 31 6 19 -2 it all means youre wearing a coat and gloves. Minneapolis offers way too much to list but so does a lot of metros. a couple of things that we think about that really hit home are things that every one is afraid to talk about....

Minnesota since 1991 has been one of the top refugee states. Flooded with many different refugees from many countries and they receive benefits that seem unfair to the common citizen.

Healthcare is one of the top 5 in the country and even though Mayo pioneers in a lot f areas, I still thing they aree a bit behind Boston, Emory and Johns Hopkins for sure.

Minnesota Nice? doesn't really exist anymore. Too many transplants have come and gone. A lot of people have related Minnesota Nice to Passive/Aggressive. I think that's bull. Minnesota Nice generally applies to native who will go out of their way to make something enjoyable or acceptable and to comfort. We say hello, We wave, we use our signals in traffic, we help a neighbor in need etc. You break down on the side of the road and we pull over to help. Your car need jump starting, we go get our cables - get the point? BUt a lot of people no days that aren't from Minnesota will complain that it has turned into people being shady and fake. Not a fair assumption at all.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Being somebody who came from MN to OH (and back to MN, then back to OH), there are some differences, but they're smallish. Ohioans don't think they have an accent, but even if that's true the way Ohioans sounds is very different than how most Minnesotans sound. There's some similarity between people in Cleveland and MN with the vowel shifting, but it's still not the same. What else......Minneapolis and the Twin Cities are also spread out, the only difference is that there's a pretty good mass transit system in place, including light rail, so you may be fine without a car, especially in and around the U of M. Minnesota is much bigger into hockey than Ohio, and it's not even close. Minnesota is also big into football but obviously not as big as Ohio, like you won't hear much about college football living in the Twin Cities (unless the Gophers turn some heads next season). The fast food staple in the Cincy area is chilly cheese fries, right? In Minneapolis it's arguably cheese curds, which if you haven't had you should definitely try, especially at the Minnesota State Fair (which is a big deal in MN). Demographics are a bit different between the two states: both have a similar % of whites to non-whites, but as Ohio is predominately black and white, Minnesota is a bit more balanced, with moderate black, Hispanic and Asian populations, and there isn't as much segregation in the Twin Cities, but the Twin Cities wasn't a quintessential Rust Belt city either.

There's more but let's start with that, as that touches on some of the bigger differences.

Good luck with your move! I may not be far behind you.

[BryaninMSP]

Where you'll want to live is wholly dependent on where you'll be working. We're a spread out metro area, so figure out where you're working and then start your search based on that. We have major employers in all four corners of the metro and both downtowns.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Minnesota since 1991 has been one of the top refugee states. Flooded with many different refugees from many countries and they receive benefits that seem unfair to the common citizen.

Who in MN even cares about the benefits that refugees might receive? I don't recall that sort of thing ever being on my radar. Can you provide some examples?

[JasonStarCommand]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Who in MN even cares about the benefits that refugees might receive? I don't recall that sort of thing ever being on my radar. Can you provide some examples?

I agree with you. Refugees in America do not receive any sort of temporary government public assistance that is different from what a needy US citizen would also receive.
I guess it also depends on what sources you read as seen in these two articles :
Refugee council USA
Daily caller's view-point on refugees

[pmlpml]

Hey, I can help with this question. We moved from Cincy to MSP last fall. Here's some comments in no particular order....

Disclaimer 1: We only got here in the fall so don't have a full year under our belts yet.

Disclaimer 2: It sounds like our situation is different than yours as we have school age children and are suburban.

What I like better in MSP:

- The schools. We lived in Loveland in OH and I thought those schools were good but the SW MSP schools are WAY better.

- Traffic flow. My commute here is three times the distance but I make it in the same time.

What I liked better in Cincy:

- Much cheaper cost of living.

- Less spread out. You would be more central though by the U.

- Weather. This past winter was off the charts good. But it's still just brown outside here. I was back in Cincy two weeks ago, it was 70, sunny, old neighbors had already cut the grass - I miss that. We haven't been here a full year yet but it seems like we will lose a month of summer each on the front end and back end.

- Government is screwed up. Couple examples... MN is one of four or five states whose drivers licenses aren't TSA compliant after 10 yrs notice and the government hasn't done anything to correct yet. It occurred to me this weekend that taxes are another inefficient mess in that you mail your return to one address and payment to another.

A MSP native will confirm but I think an area you might want to consider is Uptown. From a suburbanite perspective, that is what feels the closest to Hyde Park / Mt Lookout.

Good luck in your decision and move!

[pmlpml]

Just thought of another plus to MSP over Cincy (as I type this during the hoops game) - Watching sports is so much better here. Super bowl, night NFL games, this NCAA championship game, etc. They all end at a much better time here than in the EST zone!!!

That said, there's nothing like the Reds opening day (and I saw they pulled out the win today too).

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by pmlpml

Hey, I can help with this question. We moved from Cincy to MSP last fall. Here's some comments in no particular order....

Disclaimer 1: We only got here in the fall so don't have a full year under our belts yet.

Disclaimer 2: It sounds like our situation is different than yours as we have school age children and are suburban.

What I like better in MSP:

- The schools. We lived in Loveland in OH and I thought those schools were good but the SW MSP schools are WAY better.

- Traffic flow. My commute here is three times the distance but I make it in the same time.

What I liked better in Cincy:

- Much cheaper cost of living.

- Less spread out. You would be more central though by the U.

- Weather. This past winter was off the charts good. But it's still just brown outside here. I was back in Cincy two weeks ago, it was 70, sunny, old neighbors had already cut the grass - I miss that. We haven't been here a full year yet but it seems like we will lose a month of summer each on the front end and back end.

- Government is screwed up. Couple examples... MN is one of four or five states whose drivers licenses aren't TSA compliant after 10 yrs notice and the government hasn't done anything to correct yet. It occurred to me this weekend that taxes are another inefficient mess in that you mail your return to one address and payment to another.

A MSP native will confirm but I think an area you might want to consider is Uptown. From a suburbanite perspective, that is what feels the closest to Hyde Park / Mt Lookout.

Good luck in your decision and move!

Just so you know, several of your pros and cons are almost opposite of what mine are between the two states (for example, I think Ohio's gloominess, humidity and wet winters make it more miserable weather-wise, and I can think of several screwed up things going on in local OH government that I can point to), so I think perspective has a lot to do with how people will adjust to one state or the other.

That being said, the OP is from Ohio, and I am from Minnesota (originally), so the OP's perspective may be more like yours than like mine. I do, however, agree with the following for your points above that the OP can definitely expect, Re: schools, sprawl and COL.

[pmlpml]

Originally Posted by Min-Chi-Cbus

Just so you know, several of your pros and cons are almost opposite of what mine are between the two states (for example, I think Ohio's gloominess, humidity and wet winters make it more miserable weather-wise, and I can think of several screwed up things going on in local OH government that I can point to), so I think perspective has a lot to do with how people will adjust to one state or the other.

That being said, the OP is from Ohio, and I am from Minnesota (originally), so the OP's perspective may be more like yours than like mine. I do, however, agree with the following for your points above that the OP can definitely expect, Re: schools, sprawl and COL.

No doubt we all can be homers!

One thing on weather though - I noticed your location said Cleveland (perhaps a past life). The weather there is quite a bit different than Cincy. In Cincy, I would have already dewinterized my camper, probably gone camping, and cut the grass several times (NOT that I like cutting the grass mind you!). MSP seems about a month behind Cincy weather wise. I haven't been in MSP for a summer yet but am crossing my fingers it's not as humid as southern Ohio because that could be really oppressive there (summer there seemed like a consistently long stretch of temps in at least the 80's or higher with humidity pushing the heat indices easily into the 90's or higher). I guess that's what retirement will be for - pick a good climate in the winter and summer.