Hopkins/St. Louis Park vs. North St. Paul (Minneapolis, Bloomington: appointed, buying a home)

[jongordo8]

Good evening. My wife and I are relocating from Scottsdale Az to Minneapolis due to her job. I flew in for the weekend to house hunt and we found 2 homes we really liked. One is in hopkins and the other is in North St. Paul (zip code is 55109). I know Hopins/St louis park are considered trendy areas and are generally well regarded, curious how North St Paul compares?

We are both professionals no kids (fur kids are our life) and we just want a safe neighborhood with a decent commute for my wife (she works in downtown minneapolis) and access to good grocery stores/restaurants.

We would appreciate this forums input as we decide which home to go with and put an offer on.

Thanks in avance.

[Glenfield]

Hopkins is going to give you a better commute to downtown Minneapolis than North St Paul.

[Ursicinus]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to commute from North St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis. Keep in mind proximity to certain highways and bus routes can make all the difference, AND time of day can change things drastically.

[Kat12510]

Hopkins is closer to MPLS which offers more variety of restaurants/grocery stores, amenities, things to do, walkability etc. North St. Paul has a semi-charming downtown (depends who you ask) and is really only close to Maplewood/White Bear Lake/Stillwater. The commute will be worse but depending on what you're used to, it could be just fine. Luckily the MPLS/St. Paul traffic is really only bad from 7-9am and 4-6pm. It doesn't really encompass multiple hours twice a day so that's a plus. If I were in your position and debating between the two, I'd pick Hopkins. NSP is nice, but it's outdated, not near anywhere diverse and generally pretty boring (although cheaper to live and lower taxes I think)

[Citykid3785]

North St Paul is a little to close to Maple"Hood" for me personally. It may be a decent place, although it's not really known for anything. I can tell you it's not the up and coming part of the metro if that helps

[gopherviking]

Hopkins or St.Louis Park would have more and would be closer to good grocery stores and restaurants, and are safe neighborhoods. And the commute from those areas would be better than from N. St Paul.

[Hockeyfan1989]

You will be very disappointed with North St Paul if coming from Scottsdale but then again you may be very disappointed in any city in MN compared to Scottsdale. Stay west of Minneapolis like St Louis Park and you should enjoy that.

[jongordo8]

Thanks for the input...we actually ended up changing course and we are in the process of buying a home in north Bloomington minnesota.

[Hockeyfan1989]

Originally Posted by jongordo8

Thanks for the input...we actually ended up changing course and we are in the process of buying a home in north Bloomington minnesota.

Not a bad place to be with many great surrounding cities nearby. Solid choice.

[BryaninMSP]

Another +1 for Hopkins. Years ago I worked in "downtown" North Saint Paul and thought it was cute; now it's looking pretty run-down.

Plus, rule of thumb around here is that crossing one downtown to another for a commute is way more hassle than it's worth (through St. Paul to Minneapolis, for example). She'd be taking Highway 36 over from NSP, which can be a nightmare.