10 Reasons to live in MN

Minnesota and the Twin Cities are beautiful to most people in the summer months but once fall hits people seem to find it less and less appealing and actually can become frightened in the winter.  If you are from here you typically like it here but for those that are transplanted they find it to be a terrible punishment.  The oddity is, if these same people are transferred out after a time, they typically want to come back to Minnesota and do miss it!  I came up with 10 reasons to live in MN, there are many more but I liked these the best today.

What could possibly make Minnesota a great place to live?

1.  How about the climate?  At first thought this seems to be a ridiculous answer but take a moment to think it over.  The East Coast is supposed to be so wonderful, well, they get cold and snowy as well but most of their buildings are old which means they never get all that warm in the winter and in the summer many don’t have central air conditioning.  In Seattle or Detroit the weather is so damp, +20 there feels colder than a MN -20.  Here is Minnesota we have built newer buildings/homes and are prepared for the extreme heat and cold without so much moisture in the air.  We even have the giant malls and the skyway system for those super inclement times!

2.  Minnesota nice!  Some say this is not true as Minnesotans sometimes talk poorly about others behind their backs but who really cares.  Where else can you be in line at the cashier and have to wait while the cashier looks through a spare newspaper ad for a coupon for an item you are buying.  You did not ask the cashier to do this, it is just the nice thing to do.  We say excuse me even when it is not our fault, no one can drive at a 4-way stop as they don’t want to drive out of turn and so on.  If someone is nice to me to my face it does not bother me if they go home and tell their friends I was an idiot, in New York they would tell me to my face I am an idiot and that is simply not nice!

3.  Space!  We take it for granted how much space we have in our homes and the lots they are built on.  Sure in the city the lots are smaller but out in the suburbs most homes are built on 1/3 of an acre or more and the homes are good sized.  Try finding an affordable, nice home on a 1/3 acre lot in California or New York – you simply won’t.  We have our space and are friendly with our neighbors as well.

4.  Parks galore!  Minnesota is known for its parks.  We have the state parks, county parks and city parks.  In most neighborhoods you don’t need to go more than a few blocks to reach the nearest park with playground equipment, sometimes baseball fields or hockey rinks.  In the summer there are the softball leagues and in the winter the hockey leagues so everyone can get out and enjoy themselves.  The county and state parks are a dime a dozen as well and located throughout the state – great for hiking, biking, camping and more.

5.  Calling all water lovers!  Minnesota has more than 90,000 miles of shoreline – that is more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.  We have rivers, streams, lakes and ponds.  We boat in the summer, build cities on the ice in the winter, basically we use the bodies of water year round and not just for fishing.  Because it is so warm in the summer most bodies of water are great for swimming as well.

6.  The best groceries!  Sure you can buy groceries in any city or state but in Minnesota we have a wide variety of grocery stores from the coops to the discount chains, regular grocery stores, the finer stores such as Kowalski’s and even home delivery grocery companies.  We tend to have very fresh produce and meats as well as overall lower grocery prices compared to other areas of the country.

7.  Dining Out!  The Twin Cities has many well known restaurants.  A major difference between our restaurants and those in other major US cities is that the prices tend to be lower and you can usually get a table most nights of the week without a reservation.  These great restaurants are not just located in the cities themselves, some of the best restaurants are in the suburbs.

8.  Professional Sports teams!  Here in Minnesota we have all 4 major sports teams – the Vikings football team, Twins baseball, Timberwolves basketball and the Wild hockey team.  We have our Minnesota Lynx women’s basketball team and the UofM Gophers as well.  What we don’t have much of are winning teams but the sporting events are still a lot of fun to attend and the fans are diehard!  No matter how bad we play the fans are at the games.

9.  Plenty of Performing Arts!  The Twin Cities are kind of like a miniature Los Angeles or New York City.  We have so much theater, great musicians and art museums.  These are also not limited to just the city limits – there are great art shows to attend, bands to hear and plays to be seen in the suburbs as well.

10.  Balance between home and the job!  MN is home to some of the more modern ways of working in the country.  General Mills has in house daycare, healthcare, a beauty salon and more, all designed to make your work experience easier.  Best Buy started a program that allows you to work when you want and you don’t have to count hours.  As long as your projects are done on time you can work however you want.  Many companies offer work at home opportunities for at least part of the time.  In the summer months many companies also offer early quitting time on Fridays.  Many companies here really go the extra mile to keep the work/life balance in order.  One thing that some do have trouble with is that we tend to be to work early – 8 am and earlier but we are also home earlier.