Moving to Minneapolis as a Somewhat Alternative Couple

[Citykid3785]

Originally Posted by jessicalovesdougthepug

Hello, my husband and I are considering moving to Minneapolis from Salt Lake City, UT (thanks, earthquakes!) and formerly from Jacksonville, FL. We've done a fair amount of research, but also wanted to get some general opinions on the area.

Things that are important to both of us are:

1. Thriving vegan scene
2. Craft beer and craft cocktails
3. Outdoors (running, hiking, rock climbing, camping)
4. Fiscally responsible government
5. Liberal population
6. Making friends (we're a childfree married couple in our late 20s/early 30s, but want to have 2-3 sets of close friends who we hang out with semi-regularly; we're slightly odd in that we're both Christian but very liberal - always feels like we're slightly "out of place" in whatever community we're in. Too black sheep for Christians but too goodie-goodie for atheists)
7. Low unemployment; even during COVID-19 times, I'm getting tons of interviews in Minneapolis and I don't even live there. I have a bachelor's degree and some administrative/finance experience, but I don't have some specialized skillset.
8. Low cost of living (compared to SLC)
9. The vibe of the city - you all seem very culturally thriving and I love that it's described as basically "South Canada." I know your human development index is one of the highest in the country, and is compared to Switzerland and Scandanavia.

Things we're afraid of:

1. Winters; we HATE heat which is why we moved away from FL. We like winters in SLC, other than driving in snow. But your winters seem far longer and far worse. Are they as bad as people make them seem? Are the livable if you mostly stay in doors? Do you have snow days from work when it gets so cold your car won't start? Will my dogs be able to use the bathroom outside during negative temp days or will I have to lay a puppy pad down inside?
2. Status; it might feel weird telling people we're moving to the mid-west on purpose. However we're from the south (Jacksonville, at that) and the mormon headquarters - two real armpits of places.
3. Natural disasters; we'd stay in SLC forever if we weren't overdue for a major "city destroying" earthquake (57% chance of it happening in my life). Minneapolis has virtually no earthquake risk. But I know you have tornadoes and flooding. Are natural disasters pretty heavily expected or do you feel generally safe?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Number 6 is the only challenge on your list above, otherwise the Twin Cities checks all the other boxes. All cities have their pros and cons, this is the Twin Cities primary con (along with the winters). That's not to say making friends is impossible, but the general consensus is that "MN Nice" makes it harder to make friends here than other places.

Winters are long.....no way around it. It's not so much the snow, but the gray skies, bitter cold, and snow that stays on the ground into April. If it's new to you, it can be a novelty, but it does wear most people down year after year. There is a small subset of the population that loves the cold and thus they thrive here.

MN is relatively safe from natural disasters. As you mentioned, biggest threat is tornadoes, but the threat is rare.

[MplsTodd]

Hey Jessica,
I think you and your husband would fit in well in the Twin Cities. When we lived there, our social circles fit your profile very well. My wife is vegan, we loved biking and roller-blading around the lakes, enjoyed great local music & theater. Winters are long—both our kids played hockey which helped, but March is a tough month in Minnesota. Summer and fall are awesome though. Mpls-St. Paul has much higher than average support for public infrastructure: making for great parks, healthcare, schools...(taxes are high though)
I grew up in the Twin Cities and had an eclectic group of friends from college and various jobs. Minnesota has a reputation for being hard to make friends. I tend to believe this because many Minnesotans are fairly reserved, but certainly not all and there are lots of transplants. We made good friends through ECFE (early childhood family education) and in our neighborhood in Minneapolis.
We belonged to a UCC church in SW Mpls and found to be a very progressive, accepting congregation. UU, UCC, Quaker tend to lean liberal, as do many main-line churches (especially in the city).
At some point, we’d like to move back!

[snebarekim]

Originally Posted by WoodburyWoody

There are liberal church congregations in Minneapolis and St. Paul - thinking about UUs and Quakers, depending on your definition of liberal (or religion, I guess). There are also more liberal mainstream congregations, again more in M and StP as it falls off by the second-ring suburbs.

Winters are long here, for people who are not used to it or coming in with different expectations.

Not as long as they used to be (we've lost 16 days of the winter season since 1970, 12 fewer ice days on the lakes in that time as well (https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/0...-it-used-to-be), but for you coming to the state without context, that really means nothing other than, "Ice on lakes? What is that all about?"

Yeah, ice on lakes translates to ice fishing, which is still pretty popular here. I don't do it, but it brings up the point that you simply have to find something to do that embraces winter here or you will not be happy. We've got great state parks and they are busy in the winter with snowshoeing, SC skiing, hikes, winter biking, etc. Simply having a dog that makes you go out for a walk once a day (sometimes with a flask - let's not kid ourselves, even the dog hates the sub-zero walks) helps.

The winters the past five years - perhaps the past ten - are more erratic. Used to be typically snow in November or early December, sunny December-January, deep freeze in early January, mid-January warmup (which is warm compared to the deep freeze), grey February, sunny and warmer March and April was anyone's guess, green grass and 60s in early May. The past few years, it seems any of that can happen at any time in the winter. Except grey February - February is always grey.

And taking getting someplace warm for a few days in February helps, though that, too, though even in the southern U.S. February has been a crapshoot the past five or ten years.

Summer and Fall are usually glorious here. Though, again, the past few years blow that out of the water.

I'm not sure if you responded to me by accident, but if you did respond to me on purpose, FYI, I grew up there and left in the mid 80's to join the military.

I'm agnostic and do not attend church outside of weddings/funerals, I know the seasons, and I did some ice fishing/hunting myself in the state.

I also have no plans on returning permanently, just shorter stops to visit family.

[MNimumheat]

One thing that no one has mentioned is July and August can be hot here with guaranteed humidity. And I'm not talking a gentle kiss of humidity. I'm talking tropical. There are days when the dew point is worse than Florida. Your dog, like people here, will either love it or hate it. Our dogs love it but they are extreme weather dogs. I hate it. My dad was from Provo and said our winters here were twice as long and twice as brutal as Utah. And I completely agree with February being gray. Except this year is was January. Weather wise. records are always being broken. You think you have it figured out and then boom, there's no spring for 3 years. And yes, "sometimes it snows in April". And every now and then May. You'll find a little of everything here. Liberals, conservatives, lots of restaurants, church choices etc. I've been here 45 years and wouldn't mind a change of scenery. But all in all it's a nice place to live.