Affordable Areas in Minnesota? (Minneapolis, St. Paul: rental, insurance, condo)

[viridianforest]

I'm not exactly familiar with how affordable Minnesota is, but have an interest to move there if we like it after visiting a while.

As finances are my most general concerns, I am mostly concerned with costs of living. How much would someone need to make to survive in Minnesota for a family of 4? I know this could vary by suburb, town, or city - but a few examples would be nice. I'm not exactly sure what most get paid out there for jobs whether minimum wage or having a bachelor's degree. What is the average cost of rent in a decently safe area? Do most jobs pay enough or not to support rental prices in the area? Could a household survive with one person working, or must two people work to support their living expenses? Is $35,000 per year enough to survive, or does it need to be more like $60,000 per year? Thank you for any thoughts or comments. Just need to know where to start my search.

I understand my question is definitely broad as we're not sure where in Minnesota exactly we would like to be. We would like something close to Minneapolis/St. Paul, but not directly in it if possible and we would travel further from the city for the sake of affordability. We need a family friendly area with a good amount of things to do. I've heard that Rochester, Stillwater, and Hastings are fairly affordable and family friendly, but I don't know a lot about these areas, either.

[PCALMike]

Minnesota is probably the best state in the nation in terms of affordability and availability of well paying jobs. Mankato and Rochester both have unemployment rates around 1.8%-2.0%.

Teachers, electricians etc typically make $60 000 a year. Typical price for a home is $250 000 in the Minneapolis metro or $180k in Mankato or Duluth.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

The median house price in Minneapolis is 240k vs 197k in Saint Paul. If you want an affordable house in the city I would think Saint Paul would be your better bet.

[601halfdozen0theother]

NE MN is absolutely dirt cheap. If you have only general laborer skills you might not find work, but if you have a professional occupation, or have experience in one of the skilled trades so that you can join one of the powerful unions, you can earn the same amount of money that you would earn near the Cities, but you'd pay only about 1/4 the amount for housing/property taxes/insurance. Rents for houses run in the $400 - $700 range in most of the towns outside of Duluth. Rents in Duluth itself are much more expensive. A family of 4 could live carefully on $35,000/yr in NE MN. It's way too far to commute to Mpls/St. Paul, though, but Duluth is a very nice city which should satisfy most of anyone's city needs.

SE MN south of Rochester also has lower housing/property taxes/insurance, and as others have said, the employment situation in Roch is very good. Crime is low, too. I don't know rents well there but I bought a very nice house on a large property in a small town for $97,000 a few years ago. $35,000/yr might be a little low for an annual income for a family of 4, but $45,000 would be doable, I would think. For an ideal life with your family, live in the nearby beautiful countryside in a small town like Chatfield or Zumbrota (don't look to the boring western side), and commute into Roch for work.

IMHO it would be very hard to find affordable living anywhere near Mpls/St. Paul. I don't know why anyone ever would want to live in the metropolitan area when the rest of the state is so nice.

As with everywhere, whether or not you can live on one income and how well your family can live all depends on your occupational skills and background. If you don't have specialized skills you should try to go to technical school to increase your employability.

[Citykid3785]

In General, our abundance of good paying jobs makes our city affordable. Certainly most areas outside of the Twin Cities are extremely affordable, Rochester and certainly Duluth included. If you wanted to live in a bedroom community for the sake of affordability, I might suggest the following areas:

Northfield (#1 on my list!)
Cannon Falls
River Falls, WI
St. Peter
Lindstrom
Faribault

Since your question is so broad, and I don't know what line of work you are in, I'll just say this: MN, twin cities included, is still flexible enough that you can make any situation work for you. We live in a nice house on 1 income, but it's fairly large income. But I feel as though even if I had to take a 50% pay cut, we could simply move to a townhouse and continue to stay in the same community.

But it sounds to me like affordability is your number 1 concern. If that were the case, I might live in Northfield, but brave a long commute into the city for the sake of my family. Without knowing, I'm guessing there are single family homes in Northfield for $150K still, and I'm sure you could live in a townhouse for even less if that was your desire. Northfield has 2 colleges, a Target, and enough to keep your family busy. And for those times you want the Twin Ciies, the suburbs are 30 mins away, and Downtown would be an hour away during off peak travel.

[mingna]

Originally Posted by viridianforest

I'm not exactly familiar with how affordable Minnesota is, but have an interest to move there if we like it after visiting a while.

As finances are my most general concerns, I am mostly concerned with costs of living. How much would someone need to make to survive in Minnesota for a family of 4? I know this could vary by suburb, town, or city - but a few examples would be nice. I'm not exactly sure what most get paid out there for jobs whether minimum wage or having a bachelor's degree. What is the average cost of rent in a decently safe area? Do most jobs pay enough or not to support rental prices in the area? Could a household survive with one person working, or must two people work to support their living expenses? Is $35,000 per year enough to survive, or does it need to be more like $60,000 per year? Thank you for any thoughts or comments. Just need to know where to start my search.

I understand my question is definitely broad as we're not sure where in Minnesota exactly we would like to be. We would like something close to Minneapolis/St. Paul, but not directly in it if possible and we would travel further from the city for the sake of affordability. We need a family friendly area with a good amount of things to do. I've heard that Rochester, Stillwater, and Hastings are fairly affordable and family friendly, but I don't know a lot about these areas, either.

Whether or not a salary of $35,000 or $60,000 is sufficient to "survive" for a family of 4 will largely depend on your lifestyle, housing, and transportation needs.

I would also look at housing in the areas of Lino Lakes, Centerville and Hugo. All are on the St. Paul side, but with access to 35W for additional job options in Mlps, or 35E for those in St. Paul. They are in a largely still underdeveloped, more rural areas, so housing should be more affordable. From what I know, they are also family friendly, filled with many younger families. There are also sizable commercial developments nearby for all your daily needs.

[cornsnicker3]

Originally Posted by viridianforest

I'm not exactly familiar with how affordable Minnesota is, but have an interest to move there if we like it after visiting a while.

As finances are my most general concerns, I am mostly concerned with costs of living. How much would someone need to make to survive in Minnesota for a family of 4? I know this could vary by suburb, town, or city - but a few examples would be nice. I'm not exactly sure what most get paid out there for jobs whether minimum wage or having a bachelor's degree. What is the average cost of rent in a decently safe area? Do most jobs pay enough or not to support rental prices in the area? Could a household survive with one person working, or must two people work to support their living expenses? Is $35,000 per year enough to survive, or does it need to be more like $60,000 per year? Thank you for any thoughts or comments. Just need to know where to start my search.

I understand my question is definitely broad as we're not sure where in Minnesota exactly we would like to be. We would like something close to Minneapolis/St. Paul, but not directly in it if possible and we would travel further from the city for the sake of affordability. We need a family friendly area with a good amount of things to do. I've heard that Rochester, Stillwater, and Hastings are fairly affordable and family friendly, but I don't know a lot about these areas, either.

To put cost of living into perspective, I paid less than $200,000 for a nice home across the street from Lake Superior in a VERY good neighborhood (Lakeside area) in Duluth. My property taxes are about $2200 per year after homestead status. One could afford my situation quite easily with a modest paycheck.

Duluth is also a very nice town with decent amenities and only 2.5 hours from the Cities. I really like living here.

[viridianforest]

I understand my question was definitely vague, but I do greatly appreciate all the responses I have received! I like that I'm hearing about a lot of new areas to look at. We had been considering Rochester as it does generally make the top of the lists as family friendly, but we're definitely willing to look around. We aren't focused on living within the Twin Cities, but wouldn't mind work commutes in that direction if need be, or for some fun activities to do. Although, my husband and I are willing to look into a lot of other areas as well - I seem to hear a lot of positive things about the Duluth area.

For sure, I will take in a lot of different factors like housing, transportation needs, etc. and dig deeper.

Thanks for including an idea of the house prices. My husband and I probably aren't going to play the rental game too much longer before we settle and buy a house if we love it there after visiting for a bit. All this information truly helps. Thank you!

[LisaGonzales]

The commuting factor should be considered if you plan to work in the Twin Cities. Every, and I mean every corridor in and out of the Twin Cities is a parking lot during rush hours (morning/evening). Even though TC public works are great at getting the plows out on those arteries ASAP, bad weather slows the commute even more. You also have to factor in sporting events in and out of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Your time is valuable, so try not to spend it commuting (too much). Take a look at the DOT webcams which are on every artery and you'll get an idea of traffic. On the morning news channels, they report on traffic about every 10 minutes or less.

I mean prices are all over the board. The Twin Cities is huge and there are hundreds of neighborhoods. Make sure to check out crime statistics wherever you are interested. That less expensive house might be in a not so nice part of town. I grew up in the Twin Cities and lived a majority of my life there. I just recently sold my condo in the Grand Avenue area of St. Paul (LOVED IT). I also lived across the border in Hudson for a few years, but the commute was tough even though it was a beautiful community. I have lived out of state since the early 2000, but maintained a condo until 2016. The majority of my family is in MN, so I get back a lot. I still hate the traffic in the Twin Cities.

[LeaveWI]

My brother and his wife up and relocated to Burnsville last November.
He has a degree and lots of good work experience but it's a bit outdated since in Oklahoma he just did whatever he could find, so he's in rebuilding mode. They love Minnesota so far! Rents are a tad much in the TC, but combined they make 40k for 2 adults and do ok.