Relocation from Jacksonville, FL -> Minneapolis (Austin, Stillwater: 2014, apartments)

[jax2mn]

So, I am going to be relocating to Minneapolis later this year, and I want to start looking ahead. Are there any jax natives here that can shed a bit of light on some neighborhoods + similarities? I live in riverside which is a revitalized historical neighborhood, and has a good night life, you can walk everywhere you need to, good veg friendly places to eat. Anything similar like that in Minneapolis? Any areas I should avoid looking?

Here in Jacksonville, it is very spread apart and can take an hour + to get to one side of town to another, is it like that here, as well?

Sorry if this has been asked before. Thanks!

[StPaulGal]

I don't know anything about Jacksonville, but from your brief description I think Uptown would be a great fit. It's very walkable and transit connected, it's one of two main nightlife destinations, tons of restaurants including vegetarian options, and just overall a very desirable place to live. Housing stock is everything from boring 1960 apartment blocks to historic brownstone buildings to gorgeous mansions to brand newly constructed slick apartments/condos with all the amenities.

Another option would be the North Loop neighborhood. It's the hottest neighborhood in the city right now, though, so you better be willing to pay for the privilege. On the opposite side of the downtown area is Loring Park, which is also dense and walkable and has a definite historical charm.

What's your budget? That is going to have a lot to do with what recommendations make sense.

As far as travel times, it depends on what you mean by "one side of town to another." If you were to start where rural becomes metro area and drive until you exit the metropolitan area on the other extreme, you could easily spend an hour or two depending on traffic. But going east-west across Minneapolis proper (the short dimension, since Minneapolis is much taller than it is wide) would only take 8 minutes on the interstate without traffic according to google maps.

[Mplsite]

"a revitalized historical neighborhood, and has a good night life, you can walk everywhere you need to, good veg friendly places to eat"

You just described a typical Minneapolis neighborhood. Here such neighborhoods are the rule, not the exception. That goes for the dozens of neighborhoods in South, Downtown, NE and SE. The hard part is narrowing down which one you want to live in. I would check out Walkscore which shows the highest densities of walkable businesses. Then you can go on Google Maps and check out the restaurants, bars, etc in those areas.

[Zinka]

I can definitely give you advice on this, as I have pretty deep connections to both (exact) places.

Not to be cliche, but get ready for winter. If you're from Jax or otherwise unaccustomed to winter, this is going to be a huge thing. If you're hip to Minnesota winters, then it doesn't need to be explained. If not, I'd strongly suggest you visit in January and stay for a couple weeks, because that's going to be at least 1/3rd of your life in Minnesota and its not something you will understand until you've lived in it for a bit and experience the rhythms of daily life below 0.

Minneapolis is an incredibly hip and with-it city and always has been. It's pretty much the Portland of Canada (ripping off an old Simpsons line about Chicago being the Miami of Canada). For reasons better and worse, it's pretty 'diverse'. There are advantages to that, there's baggage with that. Use your own judgement. On a pound for pound basis, the culture/music/arts scene there rivals pretty much anywhere. Seriously. Chicago, Austin, New York, Seattle, pound for pound, Minneapolis absolutely keeps pace. This will be a massive step up over someplace like Jax that is pretty weak in this regard (albeit improving) relative to its size and what you'd expect from a Top 15 American city. Minneapolis is a huge culture/arts/theater outlier.

The Minnesota education system is exceptional. If you have kids, this should factor heavily into your decision.

Jax, you already know the upsides and downsides. It's a good bit more expensive to live in a decent area in Minneapolis proper, but you get paid more in Minnesota. Florida has slave wages. There are a lot of inner-ring suburbs in MSP that are pretty nice so unless you're comitted to a blood oath about a 'revitalized urban area' (ie, typical John Q Hipsterville which Minneapolis and St Paul absolutely do offer, in spades), there are other places worth checking out.

[ellysbelly]

^Agree with all of the above, with a small clarification-- we're definitely below freezing during much/most of winter, but only below 0*F for a smattering of days (barring the return of the Polar Vortex).

I moved from South Florida to MN two years ago and winter wasn't nearly as scary/bad/terrifying as I feared-- but do be sure to get quality outerwear (long coat, tall/insulated boots, etc) and you should be just fine.

[MN_Ski]

Depending on your tastes, you may grow tired of Uptown. While this neighborhood can be fun, I found the generic gentrification, very young "party" population, and pretentious/entitled vibe to get old very fast. And while this area gets the most amount of new restaurants, a lot of them are disappointing, over priced, and accompanied with bad service. Honestly, I wouldn't suggest it if you are over the age of 25.

Loring Park is a good option as you are close to downtown, but also fairly central to all of the amenities and neighborhoods (including uptown). While there are not a lot of places that are directly located in Loring Park, most things are within a 10-15 min walk.

North East is a great place to live, however it's definitely more quiet, residential, and further away from downtown. If you want to rent a house, and are out of the party stage, this would be a great place to consider. Even with it's slower vibe, there are a large amount of breweries and restaurants.

[TxTnVtMn]

The funny secret is that Minnesota has been having pretty wonderful weather ever since the horrible polar vortex winter of 2013-2014. Since then, there's been a winning streak of nice falls, mild winters, early springs, and mostly San Diego-like summers.

I estimate there has been maybe 10-15 days per year when the weather has been irritating or troublesome (due to either snow, cold, or extreme heat). Different areas in the country have had their periods of real suffering - terrible heat waves, epic snows, flooding, wildfires, power outages....yet, it's generally been pretty nice in Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities. The areas Up North have experienced the more problematic severe thunderstorms.

[wamer27]

My neighbor who's basically a plant growing expert pointed out yesterday how a certain mum was already blooming about 2/3 weeks early. This points towards it being colder this winter and sooner, which is what usually follows an El Niño.

[sacrelicio]

I would definitely broaden your horizons beyond Uptown and/or North Loop. Nothing against those but they have a certain upscale flavor that isn't for everyone. There are tons of great neighborhoods close to downtown and Uptown if you want that walkable urban flavor. And it's easy enough to get around that you could live pretty well in some of the outer neighborhoods and use transit, bike, or Uber to access the nightlife areas.

[rtloucks]

I havent lived in Jacksonville but Having traveled there many many times i feel im familiar. I grew up in MN, Ill say this. There arent too many places that compare. The only two places that i would recommend would be Stillwater or Uptown Minneapolis. Uptown as in south of downtown, I know go figure.....