Is Hopkins Really That Bad? (Minneapolis, Bloomington: renting, houses, school district)

[ChibiLesley]

I moved here a little over a year ago, with my husband and now nearly 4 year old son. We were in a time crunch, my husband was starting a new job in eastern Bloomington (The Nerdery) and we ended up renting a house in Eden Prairie. Eden Prairie is nice, but I feel isolated. I miss being able to walk to a store or cafe. A friend of mine recently moved to Hopkins and thinks it's great, with all the shops and restaurants and walking trails. So I got really excited about it. But I've seen people here say that they wouldn't want to live there. Why is that, exactly? As far as I can tell, there is no other suburb, within a reasonable commute to eastern Bloomington, that offers a downtown area like that. Am I missing something?

[snowyowl789]

I think Hopkins is great, and I would like to live there, but I would check out the schools before moving there. I think some of the elementary schools aren't so good.

[Minneapolitan]

I don't think you're missing anything. I've lived in Hopkins, Eden Prairie, Burnsville, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Prior Lake...The only one of those I would return to (if I ever had to move from MPLS) is Hopkins. It existed well before suburban sprawl surrounded and then swallowed it whole. It is an island built in a relatively traditional urban form with easy access (the 12) to Uptown, and points from there.

[MnMomma]

I like Hopkins much better than the "subdivision-and-bigbox" suburbs. If I were considering a move there, I'd research the schools because I don't know anything about them at all.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

SLP kind of has a downtown area....

Is Hopkins HOW bad? It's not really bad at all.....very working class in many parts.....mostly safe.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by snowyowl789

I think Hopkins is great, and I would like to live there, but I would check out the schools before moving there. I think some of the elementary schools aren't so good.

That's the first I've heard that! What's going on with the K-5's??

[chrisroane]

I thought this area was nice as well. But one question I couldn't get an answer on was how many young families live in Hopkins. This is mainly why I have SW Minneapolis at the top of my list....even though I do like how Hopkins is more walkable (at least with the areas we are looking at).

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by ChibiLesley

I moved here a little over a year ago, with my husband and now nearly 4 year old son. We were in a time crunch, my husband was starting a new job in eastern Bloomington (The Nerdery) and we ended up renting a house in Eden Prairie. Eden Prairie is nice, but I feel isolated. I miss being able to walk to a store or cafe. A friend of mine recently moved to Hopkins and thinks it's great, with all the shops and restaurants and walking trails. So I got really excited about it. But I've seen people here say that they wouldn't want to live there. Why is that, exactly? As far as I can tell, there is no other suburb, within a reasonable commute to eastern Bloomington, that offers a downtown area like that. Am I missing something?

I like Hopkins. It's going to be even better once light rail comes through, although that, unfortunately, is a long way off (although the development benefits will come sooner, as businesses think long-run). I think perhaps it gets the bad reputation because there are a few areas that aren't so nice, but you're presumably not going to be moving into one of those isolated locations, anyway. But I'm guessing that much of it just comes down to taste; I'm sure there are plenty of those who would not want to live in Hopkins, just as there are plenty of people who would not want to live in Eden Prairie.

[Min-Chi-Cbus]

Originally Posted by chrisroane

I thought this area was nice as well. But one question I couldn't get an answer on was how many young families live in Hopkins. This is mainly why I have SW Minneapolis at the top of my list....even though I do like how Hopkins is more walkable (at least with the areas we are looking at).

I'm confident you can find it in here:

https://www.city-data.com/city/Hopkins-Minnesota.html

If not, I found it here:

http://www.hopkinsmn.com/about/demographics.php

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by ChibiLesley

I moved here a little over a year ago, with my husband and now nearly 4 year old son. We were in a time crunch, my husband was starting a new job in eastern Bloomington (The Nerdery) and we ended up renting a house in Eden Prairie. Eden Prairie is nice, but I feel isolated. I miss being able to walk to a store or cafe. A friend of mine recently moved to Hopkins and thinks it's great, with all the shops and restaurants and walking trails. So I got really excited about it. But I've seen people here say that they wouldn't want to live there. Why is that, exactly? As far as I can tell, there is no other suburb, within a reasonable commute to eastern Bloomington, that offers a downtown area like that. Am I missing something?

I used to live just north of Glen Lake in Minnetonka, and we used to go to Hopkins all the time when I was growing up. We also knew a lot of people who lived there, going to Hopkins schools and all.

It was fine. Many of the houses in the north of Hopkins are smaller and were arranged in blocks, which was different from most if not all of Minnetonka, and there was a trailer park just off Old Shakopee Road that I vaguely remember, but the town had a main street and a nice Raspberry Festival once a year.

It may be that the area has gone downhill because of the age of the housing. I have no idea. I only hear bad things about it in this forum, but not from my friend/relatives still living up there. I've gotten the impression that some of the grade schools might have taken a hit in terms of test scores because of an influx of ESL students. Again, I'm not sure. The school district has a long and relatively glorious history, and at one time it was arguably one of the best in the state, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues cropping up here and there as demographics change.