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Old 01-05-2012, 10:57 PM
 
4 posts, read 9,979 times
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There are jobs in each of these towns which I'm interested in. I'd be moving there with my daughters, one in middle school and one in high school. We are from the Pacific Northwest. I'm interested in quality schools, low crime and availability of rental homes, condos or duplexes. From what I've read online, these towns seem similar except Mankato is pretty big. Of these towns, how would you rate each? Does one stand out from the other?

Thank you for any answers.
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Old 01-06-2012, 05:22 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,303,679 times
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Albert Lea is a cute town, not much happening there but if you want a small town, not bad. Fairmont is kind of in the middle of nowhere, probably a little better job prospects with having a 3M facility there. Mankato is a larger "small" town with a sizable university. It will be your best bet if you want things to do. There are several very good schools in Mankato (public and private). I guess it depends on what you are looking for specifically. Fairmont will probably be the least expensive place to live out of the three.
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Old 01-07-2012, 07:08 AM
 
Location: Sector 001
15,945 posts, read 12,285,067 times
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since you have jobs lined up, you'll want to pick Mankato as your top choice, Albert Lea as number 2. Don't bother with Fairmont except as a last resort. It's in a very flat part of the state, fairly far away from any city of a larger size.

At least with Albert Lea it's a straight shot up 35 to the twin cities. Mankato would be the best choice if you want 'things to do' like stores, nightlife, all that stuff modern cultured people take for granted these days. Plus it's in a fairly pretty area, a valley carved out by ancient glacial river warren, right where it took a sharp turn to the north. Thus it will have more trees than a typical midwestern town/city and also hills in various locations. There are a number of lakes and state parks nearby as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacial_River_Warren

For your daughter's sake, I'd pick Mankato. Plus you'll at least somewhat have a chance that they'll stick around when they graduate high school, something they probably wouldn't do if you lived in Fairmont or Albert Lea. I just noticed there's a "north mankato" that has a population of 12,000, bringing the combined population to around 50,000 for the whole city.

Highway 169 is a fairly scenic drive straight to the twin cities and is multi-lane. To me there is only one answer to the op's question.. Mankato. It will at least somewhat remind you of the pacific northwest, just as much of Wisconsin does.

Another interesting google maps feature.. follow highway 14 east of mankato and you will see where they are moving it.. last time I drove through there it was under construction.. I have no idea how close to done it is. That entire area is experiencing fairly good growth and has a more upscale feel to it, with more new homes and home construction as well.

Last edited by sholomar; 01-07-2012 at 07:37 AM..
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Old 01-07-2012, 08:36 AM
 
812 posts, read 2,172,683 times
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I lived in Fairmont for a while. It's a nice enough little town. Not much to do really but it's typical that way. When I was there the downtown area was still alive, not sure if it is now. It has been a while since I've lived there.

I like Maknato a lot. It's a bit bigger so there's shopping choices. I don't think Fairmont has a mall anymore if you care about those.
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Old 01-07-2012, 08:49 AM
 
Location: Minnysoda
10,659 posts, read 10,726,169 times
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Albert Lea is dead, nothing for stores and schools are old, infrastructure is old. old, old, old ..... Mankato is a cesspool. Highest STD rate in the state. higest crime rate in southern mn. Aleays seems to be bad news from there..Farimont is a bit far from anywhere I agree but they have new schools lots of new infrastructure includeing water plant and electric plant so the lights won't go out long. If you like the boating, fishion, lake thing this is where to go....
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Old 01-07-2012, 09:07 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,303,679 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by my54ford View Post
Albert Lea is dead, nothing for stores and schools are old, infrastructure is old. old, old, old ..... Mankato is a cesspool. Highest STD rate in the state. higest crime rate in southern mn. Aleays seems to be bad news from there..Farimont is a bit far from anywhere I agree but they have new schools lots of new infrastructure includeing water plant and electric plant so the lights won't go out long. If you like the boating, fishion, lake thing this is where to go....
Just a little misleading given that Mankato is 3 times the size of any other town in south central/southwest MN...

There is nothing wrong with Mankato. It's a great town with a lot of things to do...but apparently you need to be careful if you plan on having indiscriminate sex so watch out for that.
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Old 01-07-2012, 01:20 PM
 
4 posts, read 9,979 times
Reputation: 10
Thank you everyone for responding. This gives me a bit of a clearer picture. I will have to wait and see which job turns out to be the best and go from there but at least I have an idea of each town/city.

Take care.
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Old 04-20-2019, 08:27 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,013 times
Reputation: 10
Dont move to Fairmont bunch of racist and meth heads
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