Anyone moved to Iowa from Minn.? Seriously thinking about it. (Decorah: rent, car insurance)

[IowanFarmer]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

Sounds lovely.....and similar to Northfield, MN, which is also a beautiful town with liberal arts colleges. As I said, I have no problem living next door to folks who might be on the other side of the political aisle. It’s dumb to even think you can find a personal political utopia in this day. I mean, c’mon...I moved to Minnesota from Texas. Who would do that if they were a right wing extremist of any sort? It’s the defund the police, pro Antifa, burn it all down, shut down society forever crowd I need to get away from....because those are the people actually running this state and that’s beyond scary. This is becoming a scary place and I don’t want to raise my family in a scary place. It’s really as simple as that.

Northfield is a good comparison, but Decorah is considerably more rugged, scenic and outdoorsy. If you've ever been to Lanesboro, Minnesota, that's more of the scenery you're looking at with Decorah. Just a much larger community.

I do think you're letting political polarization affect you in an unhealthy way as I think you have a pretty exaggerated view of what left wing policy initiatives actually are right now.

But I'll get off my soap box. You would feel very comfortable in northeast Iowa, I suspect, and St. Paul is an easy drive up Highway 52.

[smpliving]

Originally Posted by jmgg

Links?

The below article doesn’t mention Minnesota but rather Colorado. I’ll have to ask my cousin in South Dakota who is a century plus farmer if he has heard about this issue.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...te/3834939001/

[smpliving]

Originally Posted by Yosh01

Are you aware that SD is sending its overflow of Covid patients to Minnesota because the hospitals are full?

Originally Posted by jmgg

Links?

The link below about patients being transferred from South Dakota to other states goes into more detail than my previous post. This includes patients from the Rapid City hospital to hospitals in Wyoming that you can find toward the end of the article.

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/st...bbdbb74cc.html


Below article reports two patients transferred from South Dakota to a Minnesota hospital.

https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/st...17362f4ab.html

[Tyryztoll]

Originally Posted by IowanFarmer

Northfield is a good comparison, but Decorah is considerably more rugged, scenic and outdoorsy. If you've ever been to Lanesboro, Minnesota, that's more of the scenery you're looking at with Decorah. Just a much larger community.

I do think you're letting political polarization affect you in an unhealthy way as I think you have a pretty exaggerated view of what left wing policy initiatives actually are right now.

But I'll get off my soap box. You would feel very comfortable in northeast Iowa, I suspect, and St. Paul is an easy drive up Highway 52.

I'll respectfully disagree about your 2nd point and say thank you for the rest. I appreciate you taking a civil tone unlike some of the resident trolls who have picked up the scent of this thread.

[CBOTfan]

Another commenter mentioned Mason City. I'm familiar with this area due to family living nearby. I think of it really as the Mason City/Clear Lake area because the two cities are nearly connected at this point with a combined population approaching 40k. A 4-lane state highway connects the two. Mason City offers many cultural amenities and Clear Lake offers many recreational amenities. Although you mention the medical facilities you require in St Paul, Mason City includes a significant regional medical facility (Mercy North Iowa) to handle your other medical needs (major hospital and a number of associated clinics). Mason City boasts an art museum, architectural treasures of the Prairie School movement (two structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), a downtown that is (outside of Covid) improving all the time, an indoor ice arena, a community college that is amazingly able to book many broadway-type shows that are passing through between Minneapolis and Des Moines, a great and sizable public library, and many family-friendly restaurants. The Lime Creek Nature Center is just a mile or two north of Mason City where the kids can take part in nature-inspired activities at the facility and also walk/hike a number of trails radiating from the nature center.

Clear Lake, on the other hand, has many activities ongoing throughout the warmer times of the year and really buzzes from Memorial Day through Labor Day - very family-friendly as well. Clear Lake also has what I would consider the quintessential Main Street, with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and retail. The lake has areas accessible to the public, but much of the lake is lined by residential structures, but there are restaurants that are also located along the lake shore, with entrances either streetside or lakeside (by boat).

The combined area of Mason City and Clear Lake really does seem to offer families a lot of entertainment and shopping options. I-35 cuts through between the two cities, so easy to get up to St. Paul when you need to. Mason City has a commercial airport that offers "commuter" air service. In just a few months, current service from Air Choice One will be replaced by new service from Sky West (a United regional carrier) which will fly 50-seat jets between Mason City and Chicago O'Hare.

[Tyryztoll]

Thank you, CBOTfan, for an excellent and informative post.

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by smpliving

The below article doesn’t mention Minnesota but rather Colorado. I’ll have to ask my cousin in South Dakota who is a century plus farmer if he has heard about this issue.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...te/3834939001/

Thanks for the link. I had heard that this happened briefly.

Very telling graph. In 1 month from approx. 10/5 with the big upswing it went from 4311 to 19360 at peak on 11/15 then went to a free fall to 8495 1 month later. Incidentally today it's 8270.

What the liberal rag the Argus Leader (owned by Gannett) doesn't emphasis is the whole time the state's policy of leaving it up to the municipalities has not changed. Meanwhile our unemployment figures have remained almost identical from 1 year ago 3.4% in Nov. 2019 versus 3.5% in Nov. 2020. 4th best in the USA. Yesterday Sioux Falls reported that sales tax revenue for this year is nearly identical to last year.

The people VOLUNTARILY are responsible for knocking the surge that we had which is just like everyone else is experiencing at some point. We're doing so without destroying people's lives and livelihoods.

[IowanFarmer]

Originally Posted by CBOTfan

Another commenter mentioned Mason City. I'm familiar with this area due to family living nearby. I think of it really as the Mason City/Clear Lake area because the two cities are nearly connected at this point with a combined population approaching 40k. A 4-lane state highway connects the two. Mason City offers many cultural amenities and Clear Lake offers many recreational amenities. Although you mention the medical facilities you require in St Paul, Mason City includes a significant regional medical facility (Mercy North Iowa) to handle your other medical needs (major hospital and a number of associated clinics). Mason City boasts an art museum, architectural treasures of the Prairie School movement (two structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), a downtown that is (outside of Covid) improving all the time, an indoor ice arena, a community college that is amazingly able to book many broadway-type shows that are passing through between Minneapolis and Des Moines, a great and sizable public library, and many family-friendly restaurants. The Lime Creek Nature Center is just a mile or two north of Mason City where the kids can take part in nature-inspired activities at the facility and also walk/hike a number of trails radiating from the nature center.

Clear Lake, on the other hand, has many activities ongoing throughout the warmer times of the year and really buzzes from Memorial Day through Labor Day - very family-friendly as well. Clear Lake also has what I would consider the quintessential Main Street, with all sorts of shops, restaurants, and retail. The lake has areas accessible to the public, but much of the lake is lined by residential structures, but there are restaurants that are also located along the lake shore, with entrances either streetside or lakeside (by boat).

The combined area of Mason City and Clear Lake really does seem to offer families a lot of entertainment and shopping options. I-35 cuts through between the two cities, so easy to get up to St. Paul when you need to. Mason City has a commercial airport that offers "commuter" air service. In just a few months, current service from Air Choice One will be replaced by new service from Sky West (a United regional carrier) which will fly 50-seat jets between Mason City and Chicago O'Hare.

Mason City/Clear Lake is a very solid option and underrated area, IMO. Clear Lake in the summer is beautiful.

[riffle]

Originally Posted by jmgg

Meanwhile our unemployment figures have remained almost identical from 1 year ago 3.4% in Nov. 2019 versus 3.5% in Nov. 2020. 4th best in the USA.

This is true, but it should be noted that employment in SD has fallen by 3.1% (one of the smaller decreases in the country) even though the unemployment rate is unchanged (i.e. the labor force has contracted).

South Dakota .................| 442,500 | 428,700 | -13,800 | -3.1%
Iowa .........................| 1,586,000 | 1,503,600 | -82,400 | -5.2%
Minnesota ....................| 2,978,400 | 2,782,800 | -195,600 | -6.6%

Here are the over-the-year rates in IA and MN. As noted, SD did not have a statistically significant change.

Iowa ...........................| 2.8 | 3.6 | .8
Minnesota ......................| 3.3 | 4.4 | 1.1

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm

Originally Posted by IowanFarmer

Mason City/Clear Lake is a very solid option and underrated area, IMO. Clear Lake in the summer is beautiful.

I agree. Mason City is a bit gritty (as are most of the small, industrial cities in IA) but I like it nonetheless and the area is scenic for those who appreciate the wide open spaces. OP might also want to check out Garner.

[Tyryztoll]

So I've been combing over the housing stock in these areas of IA and I have to say I'm disappointed by what I've seen thus far in terms of pricing compared to where we live now. Seems to be very similar and I would have thought it would be much more affordable in those remote vicinities that are a good distance from any large metros. I guess the housing market is red hot everywhere in the country right now, not just in the big cities. Prices certainly seem to be reflecting that.