Best Suburban Area In Minnesota

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Yep, with the combination of YMCAs, YWCA's, Gold's, Lifetime Fitness, Snap Fitness and Any Time Fitness there isn't a whole lot of room to open up a gym in the metro area.

A gym by my parents house recently closed off of Ramsey Blvd in Ramsey called "HealthQuest" but I'm fairly certain this had alot to do with not being able to compete with the other gyms opening in the area.

[lmoore715]

Originally Posted by west336

I have to ask: why are you moving here from Atlanta? I ask because all I've been hearing from Atlantans is how great the city is.

Atlanta area is terrible to live, great place to visit with aquarium, zoo, and parks, night life for adults but to live and work its terrible i would never recommend any person move here to live.

[lmoore715]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

I grew up in Sioux Falls and now live in Minneapolis. I guess it depends on what type of area you are hoping to live in (I mean in terms of how big of a metropolitan area, etc.). If you want all of the amenities of the *big city* (e.g. very large metropolitan area), then you'll probably want to stick close to Minneapolis-St. Paul. However, if you're open to (or would prefer) living in a small metro/urban area, then you may not only want to check out Sioux Falls, SD but add Rochester, MN to the list.

The Bachelor's in Nursing/ RN experience will have no hard time finding employment in any of these areas- Sioux Falls has had rapid expansion of medical infrastructure in recent years and is continuing to grow thanks to a huge donation to what is now Sandford Health- my guess is that this would be one of the easiest places to get in as an RN at one of the hospitals. Mayo Clinic is located in Rochester, MN, and an insane amount of people that live in the city work in the medical profession for Mayo in one of their dozens of facilities throughout the city. Mayo is a competitive place to get into as it is generally one of the best employers in the medical field in the nation, but the location of Rochester (upper Midwest, an hour and half away from the cities, etc.) allows a lot of people to get their foot in the door there if just starting out (this used to be the case when I lived there about 6 yrs ago, assume it still is but I might be wrong). There are a lot of hospitals in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and stil likely a lot of nursing openings despite budget strains, but these will be fairly competitive openings and there have been a lot more people graduating from nursing school in the past few years. However, in addition to the hospitals, there is a plethora of nursing care facilities (assisted living, nursing homes, behavioral healthcare, etc.) where you or your wife would likely be able to find employment somewhere.

Regarding desire to open a fitness center- although there's more population in the MSP metro area which is better for business, I think you would be undertaking a more risky venture here unless you really do a lot of research to find areas that are lacking in having fitness centers readily accessible/available (although I think there are probably a number of areas that could use and/or would really welcome a fitness center, albeit these would likely be in the city and/or inner suburban rings). If you were in a place like Sioux Falls or Rochester, you would be a bigger fish in a smaller pond. A bonus for Rochester would be that a lot of the residents, by virtue of working in the medical profession, would be pretty health-conscious; but there are a lot of health conscious young people in Sioux Falls that are new to the area as well.

Regarding having a Business Admin degree and no experience under your belt, I think you would have an easier time in Sioux Falls or Rochester in getting your foot in the door with a company, where a business admin degree is going to likely serve you fairly well. Places like Sioux Falls suffer a lot of "brain drain" of persons that grow up and/or go to school there hopping state lines to work in larger metropolitan areas (I myself would be a part of this group), so you would have a lot less competition for job openings, but there would be a lot less job openings overall than what you would find here in MSP (where a lot of Fortune 500 companies are located that have huge workforces) where you'd also have a lot more competition to deal with.

If it were me in your shoes, I'd likely go with Rochester, MN or Sioux Falls, SD- esp. considering you're wanting a suburban feel, one of you will be working in nursing, and you are just starting off in your careers. If you want to move to the cities after becoming more established in your careers, it will always be here for you to do so at a later date. Or you could just start putting in applications to all 3 cities and move to the place you get the most response/calls for interviews which might be the safest route (note, however, that you're at a big disadvantage by having an outstate address in your job search).

Good luck-
P.S.- Regarding Uptown's comments about Fargo-Moorhead, it does seem like this area is somewhat booming as of late- I don't know much at all about this either, but based on things I've read (and/or heard from some friends that moved there recently) it does seem to have things happening. Fargo-Moorhead would be the coldest of the bunch, however.

Thank You this was very helpful, my wife and I plan to start visiting these places

Originally Posted by Mesabi

If starting a gym is important to you, I would choose a place that does not have a Lifetime Fitness, since LTF started here in MN and has 26 locations throughout the metro! Seems like people are pretty attached and have a hard time leaving!

THis is very true, Lifetimes are sometimes hard to compete with when you are in a higher income area with people who mainly just have a health club membership for the sake of having one which is why i might follow the post above and check out Rochester and look into demographics. Really right now i'm just looking for a place that I can train in an area I would like to live and eventually open my own but living in Atlanta you become accustom to driving to get to work so setting one up outside of where i live isnt a problem but thats down the line

[Radical_Car]

Originally Posted by lmoore715

Atlanta area is terrible to live, great place to visit with aquarium, zoo, and parks, night life for adults but to live and work its terrible i would never recommend any person move here to live.

Its all opinion, nobody's opinion is a fact.

Originally Posted by west336

I have to ask: why are you moving here from Atlanta? I ask because all I've been hearing from Atlantans is how great the city is.

This board and the people here doesn't represent the general overall opinion of anything. Its best to visit Atlanta yourself and form your own opinion. I been through Atlanta but only right through it on the freeway so I really haven't spent any time there and the only stuff I know is the stuff I saw from the freeway, but I don't have a love or hate opinion simply because I know basically nothing about it. Theres many reasons to move, such as job, family, etc. Just because there moving doesn't mean they hate it, though they said they already hated it which is fine, but just because other people here have said Atlanta is awesome doesn't mean everybody needs to think that and doesn't mean their opinion is wrong.

[lmoore715]

Originally Posted by Radical_Car

Its all opinion, nobody's opinion is a fact.


This board and the people here doesn't represent the general overall opinion of anything. Its best to visit Atlanta yourself and form your own opinion. I been through Atlanta but only right through it on the freeway so I really haven't spent any time there and the only stuff I know is the stuff I saw from the freeway, but I don't have a love or hate opinion simply because I know basically nothing about it. Theres many reasons to move, such as job, family, etc. Just because there moving doesn't mean they hate it, though they said they already hated it which is fine, but just because other people here have said Atlanta is awesome doesn't mean everybody needs to think that and doesn't mean their opinion is wrong.

Very true and it really is a matter of personal opinion, you really have to be made for the southern mind set is what i should have said because many people will move here and love it.