I’ve been working my way toward Minnesota for a while now, and this confirms my goal.
Lots of fresh water, waaaay lower housing/rental costs than (every?) other blue state, its a blue state so I qualify for SNAP and other kinds of assistance (I don’t in red states as they set their income thresholds waaay lower)…
Oh, and the place isn’t burning down/flooding.
I probably can’t afford Minneapolis/St. Paul, but Rochester looks decent.
I live in the Rochester area. It is nice. However, it is a city run by mayo, and it has its issues, but the Mayo Clinic won’t let them become headlines.
I noticed that quite quickly just from the city’s wiki page, that it’s dominated by the Mayo Clinic…
But I don’t know too much about MN other than very top down, broad metrics kinda stuff.
(Also I’m from Seattle originally and am entirely used to the local media being basically, if not literally, just on the payroll for Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, MSFT…)
Are there any other comparably sized towns/cities, where one could rent a studio or one bed at or under $750?
So far the other option I’ve considered is Duluth, but it seems to have a far smaller rental market at $750 or below.
…
Also just in general, more comparative benefits I’ve noticed for living in Minnesota:
Rental property tax rebate.
Basically, you, as a renter, get a rebate each year based on a portion of an estimate of how much of your rent goes toward paying your landlord’s property taxes.
If my understanding is correct, this is actual cash given back to you, not just a tax credit. Though that may only work that way for someone like me, on SSDI… probably I should double check that.
Also, it seems like most of MN uses a 2.5x income to rent ratio requirement, as opposed to basically every blue state which uses a 3x ratio.
Shit like that makes a considerable difference when you’re on disability.
In Rochester proper, you’re going to have a hard time finding studios at those prices. The new apartments are (sometimes) well over $1000/month for a studio. Not that you cannot find cheaper, but they tend to be rented out and people aren’t in a hurry to move. Due to the mayo constantly bringing in the desperate(for medical care) and the care providers, there’s no shortage of renters so prices very rarely have a reason to drop.
If you go outside of Rochester, to a suburb or more rural city, you may have an easier time with that price, however, buildings tend to be older and along with it comes borderline rural living, which suits me perfectly, but certainly isn’t for everyone.
In general, Minnesota is an awesome place to live, especially the Rochester area, just don’t come here thinking you’re not going to have a lot of the same problems. Compared to a lot of places though, I’m really glad to be here.
Edit: to add, Duluth is one of my favorite cities, however, it’s basically the definition of a college town and drugs have impacted a lot of the locals quite a bit. It’s gorgeous up there, but, personally, it feels like the city’s best days are unfortunately behind it, with the decline of shipping through the Great Lakes, it just doesn’t have the money it used to and I would be shocked if it was able to get back to its full glory. 10/10 will vacation, maybe not live there full time. For me anyway.
I’ve been working my way toward Minnesota for a while now, and this confirms my goal.
Lots of fresh water, waaaay lower housing/rental costs than (every?) other blue state, its a blue state so I qualify for SNAP and other kinds of assistance (I don’t in red states as they set their income thresholds waaay lower)…
Oh, and the place isn’t burning down/flooding.
I probably can’t afford Minneapolis/St. Paul, but Rochester looks decent.
I live in the Rochester area. It is nice. However, it is a city run by mayo, and it has its issues, but the Mayo Clinic won’t let them become headlines.
I noticed that quite quickly just from the city’s wiki page, that it’s dominated by the Mayo Clinic…
But I don’t know too much about MN other than very top down, broad metrics kinda stuff.
(Also I’m from Seattle originally and am entirely used to the local media being basically, if not literally, just on the payroll for Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, MSFT…)
Are there any other comparably sized towns/cities, where one could rent a studio or one bed at or under $750?
So far the other option I’ve considered is Duluth, but it seems to have a far smaller rental market at $750 or below.
…
Also just in general, more comparative benefits I’ve noticed for living in Minnesota:
Rental property tax rebate.
Basically, you, as a renter, get a rebate each year based on a portion of an estimate of how much of your rent goes toward paying your landlord’s property taxes.
If my understanding is correct, this is actual cash given back to you, not just a tax credit. Though that may only work that way for someone like me, on SSDI… probably I should double check that.
Also, it seems like most of MN uses a 2.5x income to rent ratio requirement, as opposed to basically every blue state which uses a 3x ratio.
Shit like that makes a considerable difference when you’re on disability.
In Rochester proper, you’re going to have a hard time finding studios at those prices. The new apartments are (sometimes) well over $1000/month for a studio. Not that you cannot find cheaper, but they tend to be rented out and people aren’t in a hurry to move. Due to the mayo constantly bringing in the desperate(for medical care) and the care providers, there’s no shortage of renters so prices very rarely have a reason to drop.
If you go outside of Rochester, to a suburb or more rural city, you may have an easier time with that price, however, buildings tend to be older and along with it comes borderline rural living, which suits me perfectly, but certainly isn’t for everyone.
In general, Minnesota is an awesome place to live, especially the Rochester area, just don’t come here thinking you’re not going to have a lot of the same problems. Compared to a lot of places though, I’m really glad to be here.
Edit: to add, Duluth is one of my favorite cities, however, it’s basically the definition of a college town and drugs have impacted a lot of the locals quite a bit. It’s gorgeous up there, but, personally, it feels like the city’s best days are unfortunately behind it, with the decline of shipping through the Great Lakes, it just doesn’t have the money it used to and I would be shocked if it was able to get back to its full glory. 10/10 will vacation, maybe not live there full time. For me anyway.