Quote:
Originally Posted by SheenaR1316
Hows the education,medical,rent expenses in Grand forks? Is Jamestown a city near grand forks or?
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I live and work in Grand Forks area... and yes UND is the liberal arts university in the state. The ND Museum of Art is on campus as well. I do know though that many fields offer opportunities to get masters via online courses....with visits to the actual campus only a few times. We had a friend in Minot who got her MS in Social Work from UND that way.....did online courses then meet with others taking online courses once a month for a few days. So that option may be there if you still want to live in Bismarck area.
I do think regardless of what city in ND you choose, rental prices will be a bit higher than what you have in Florida as the market remains tight. Fargo overall always has the most selection and cheapest prices of any town. Grand Forks would be comparable in prices in bismarck, probably a bit less, but rental prices have increased in the last 2-3 years as UND has had record enrollment. But new apartments are being built fast. Rental single family homes are hard to come by as in most ND cities. An older 3 BR house in GF for rent would run 1200-1600/mo....not including utilities.
Apartments newer ones run about 1500 for 3BR....some include utilities. With the lower interest rates, until recently it was cheaper to buy than rent....but homes prices have gone up and with higher interest rates, not sure that is true anymore. Hard to fine a decent home blo 130k....most homes here are split level or ranch with basement. New split level homes being built generally in the 250k-300k range. Property taxes in GF run about 2.2 pct of the assessed value of the house.
There is an Amazon.com center in town, that continues to grow and does offer decent pay/benefits and they are always hiring. It is a customer call center, but they do other things there too. There is always interest in hiring folks with CDL for general trucking (Trans-Systems I hear on the radio a lot).
GF is in the red river valley....a rich farming area and is very flat...flattest part of the state. We are not in the oil region....but some oil families I am sure have moved here over the years and then commute out west. Our economy is quite varied with UND and Altru being the most employed. Despite safety ratings, I would consider Altru a fine clinic-hospital. There is a Sanford clinic in East Grand Forks MN (across the river) where I live. EGF MN prices are generally a bit lower than GF. Ag land is quite costly to buy and build on....thus lot prices for SFH in GF run 50k on up.
I like the area, but I also like the cold weather and flat land. MN lakes country is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive east. Grand Forks is the coldest of the ND major cities on average and has the most persistent snow cover year to year....Bismarck can usually warm up a few times each winter to near 40F at times...whereas in the Red River valley we are trapped in the cold arctic air. A normal Jan day would be highs 5-15 above and lows10 to 20 below.
If any more questions let me know..... I dont know anything specific about the art program at UND or UND specifically as I didnt go to college there. My wife got here MSW there though.
I have lived in GF-EGF since 1998.
--Dan