Would an out-of-state young family feel welcome in Minnesota smaller towns/cities (twin cities area)?

[Muffinpuncher]

Look at Scott County MN. Fastest growing County in MN - Jordan, New Pauge, Belle Plane. Amazing - schools. No urban issues, one on one personalized school service. Look for a small school district. I also do like Delano and Buffalo MN. Minnesota schools are legendary for educational quality and services. If the schools don't work for your family, noting else will be a fit.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by nicagrace

Sorry, I wasn't getting notifications for this post! We are pretty open to what we are looking for. My husband would like a house with a larger lot, ideally 0.25 acre or more. My mom would like a Catholic church, which pretty much everywhere has! I guess within an hour of Minneapolis, and if there are any towns/suburbs that are more known for a community feel, I would love something like that!

Do you have the ability to visit in-person to get a feel for the towns you are looking at? The towns you listed have pretty different 'feels' to them. You mentioned wanting a community feel and catholic church close by, what else? Adjacency to airport? Thriving downtown? Arts scene in the town itself? Other amenities or specific needs re: schools?

[nicagrace]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

Do you have the ability to visit in-person to get a feel for the towns you are looking at? The towns you listed have pretty different 'feels' to them. You mentioned wanting a community feel and catholic church close by, what else? Adjacency to airport? Thriving downtown? Arts scene in the town itself? Other amenities or specific needs re: schools?

Yeah, we will be visiting my sister (who lives in Minneapolis) for 2 weeks towards the end of May/early June, so plan to drive around the suburbs quite a bit. It would definitely be nice to be less than an hour from the airport, and maybe a decent cultural scene, as in community bands or theater, stuff like that.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by nicagrace

Yeah, we will be visiting my sister (who lives in Minneapolis) for 2 weeks towards the end of May/early June, so plan to drive around the suburbs quite a bit. It would definitely be nice to be less than an hour from the airport, and maybe a decent cultural scene, as in community bands or theater, stuff like that.

I can't claim to know a whole lot about Northfield, but based on what I've seen/read/heard (from folks that live there and elsewhere), it's a very nice community with a thriving downtown, and the local business and cultural scene is greatly enhanced by its being home to St Olaf and Carleton colleges. I think the colleges likely contribute to a little more diversity for a small town in MN (I think it's roughly 80% white, non-Hispanic), and it'd be a fairly painless ~40 minute drive to the airport. Definitely worth checking out!

[Yosh01]

I second the recommendation for Northfield if you want to be in a small town less than an hour from the metropolitan area. It's home to two top notch private colleges (Carleton and St. Olaf) and has more amenities than other similar towns. I hate to bring up politics, but it may be important to you. You'll find a considerable MAGA contingent in the non-urban areas but you'd find Northfield to be a lot more liberal because of the colleges.

[tlarnla]

I considered moving to Stillwater, Northfield, and Anoka myself. They all have adorable downtowns, with antique shops and lots of beautiful old buildings.

Stillwater is on the border of WI, and has lots of cool events.
Northfield has a big Japanese garden, and a festival very year for the capture of the Jesse James gang.
Anoka calls itself the "Halloween Capitol of the World", and has several events for the Halloween season including TWO big parades. Anoka is also closest to the Cities, being it is a suburb. Does your family eat Thai food? If so, Anoka is not far from Sun Foods, a huge Asian grocery store. (Actually there are several Asian groceries near Anoka, but Sun Foods is the one you'll probably use the most. It's big, and the prices are good.)

I don't know much about Delano, but have no interest in living there. It seems too rural for my tastes. I kinda like Buffalo, though, which is near Delano. I like your other options better though.

[tlarnla]

Regarding your comment about racism, I don't think you'll have a problem if you move to a more liberal area. You might want to avoid MAGA towns though. I live in one now, and can't wait to move next month.

My half-Philippino niece said she and her Chinese friend were accused of having Covid, only because they're Asian; and my daughter saw some white kids bullying a black kid on the school bus, with the busdriver doing nothing about it. MAGA racism is destroying the morality of this community, so I advise avoiding any strongly conservative areas.


There's plenty of Catholic Churches in Minnesota, at least in the German-settled towns of Stearns County. It may be different in other parts of the state.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by tlarnla

Regarding your comment about racism, I don't think you'll have a problem if you move to a more liberal area. You might want to avoid MAGA towns though. I live in one now, and can't wait to move next month.

My half-Philippino niece said she and her Chinese friend were accused of having Covid, only because they're Asian; and my daughter saw some white kids bullying a black kid on the school bus, with the busdriver doing nothing about it.

That's awful. Noticed your mention of Stearns County- did the above happen in St. Cloud area???

[tlarnla]

Originally Posted by Camden Northsider

That's awful. Noticed your mention of Stearns County- did the above happen in St. Cloud area???

No. The bullying my daughter witnessed was in Big Lake (across the river from Monticello). Also, I met a biracial family who had moved out of Big Lake because their daughters were picked on, so the incident my daughter witnessed was not the only incident of racist bullying in this town. (Apparently the town has a problem with non-racist bullying too.) Note that Big Lake is considered one of the most conservative towns in Minnesota, so the racism may not be a surprise.

The Asian bullying my neice encountered was in Monticello, which is right next to Big Lake.


My mom's family is all from Stearns County though, so I know it's filled with German Catholics, and Catholic churches (including a few very beautiful ones). St Cloud leans conservative, but not as strongly conservative as Big Lake. Moving to the St Cloud area soon, though, so I hope the people there are friendlier than in Big Lake.

[Camden Northsider]

Originally Posted by tlarnla

No. The bullying my daughter witnessed was in Big Lake (across the river from Monticello). Also, I met a biracial family who had moved out of Big Lake because their daughters were picked on, so the incident my daughter witnessed was not the only incident of racist bullying in this town. (Apparently the town has a problem with non-racist bullying too.) Note that Big Lake is considered one of the most conservative towns in Minnesota, so the racism may not be a surprise.

The Asian bullying my neice encountered was in Monticello, which is right next to Big Lake.


My mom's family is all from Stearns County though, so I know it's filled with German Catholics, and Catholic churches (including a few very beautiful ones). St Cloud leans conservative, but not as strongly conservative as Big Lake. Moving to the St Cloud area soon, though, so I hope the people there are friendlier than in Big Lake.

Yeah... Big Lake definitely represents an extreme I would say, the town's City Council has made headlines numerous times for its backwards small-mindedness & crazy dysfunction. Still awful to hear of your experiences, but a little less surprising. And yes, those areas are some of the most conservative in the metro region, if not state. That said, there are areas of Wright County that have some really great people who are generally pretty welcoming to newcomers/ diversity, so I definitely wouldn't discount the whole area based on its politics and/or 'bad apples' (like Big Lake)!