Hello! I've spent the last three months narrowing down a city I'd like to move yo with my partner in the next three years. Given a lot of healthcare, financial, and cultural considerations, Minneapolis is at the top of the list. If anyone has time, I would be interested in negative things to consider about moving there. I would also appreciate apartment recommendations. Below you can find some context about the circumstances we would be moving from and how that impacts our living preferences:
- My current city has an average wage for 20-25 year olds at around 30k per year, compared to 43k for Minneapolis (cursory google). Wages seem much better there. My current position in construction seems to make $3-$5 more per hour there, without experience. $10 more with my experience.
- The University has a MUCH better selection of courses, holy crap. My partner and I are at the very start of our M.A. tracks but if we solidify this plan we might bow out and start over there because WOW there are so many more courses. The University campus looks amazing, too.
- My current apartment costs $1200-$1300 per month, and its a 630 sq ft 1-bed with no dishwasher, no in-unit laundry, and didn't even have a microwave. I bought one that is currently wedged on top of the fridge with a step stool. Rent seems to be comparable there, if maybe a little worse. Considering how it is here we're probably prepared for an increased cost of living. It's pretty bad here, too.
- This is a very conservative military town in FL with little to no social safety net and few outreach organizations. My partner is T1D and you guys at least have an insulin cap, for God's sake. Not to even mention decent public transportation. We have like three busses here that stop at like 6 PM and they only run downtown. It's not walkable AT ALL. Everything is hellishly spaced out because the military AF base prevents upward construction. It's horrible. It ranks very low on walkability and public transportation. God what I would give for a bus to the store.
- My partner and I hate the heat. I know it gets very cold in Minneapolis but we'd both rather wear six jackets than deal with 80-90° weather for most of the year. Our fashion sense leans toward layers.
- My partner and I are both left wing and transgender, so this area has never been particularly friendly even when it isn't outright hostile. I'm not sure my partner can even legally teach in this state without students being forced to use his old name, and his dream is to teach high school or college. He'd probably also hit the news if he landed a position here. I'm one incident on a construction site away from a news story myself, and just thankful I pass pretty well.
- There seems to be an active punk and goth music scene in Minneapolis, which would be awesome. Here we're lucky to get one show every 3 to 6 months.
Are there gay bars? There's one leather bar here and one upper class cabaret, and a little hole-in-the-wall "LGBTQ friendly" place that just opened this fall. Gay bars would be awesome. Bookstores? Plant shops? Cafes? There's like one chain near my apartment ("near" meaning "15+ minute drive") and the rest (like 4) are downtown.
We'd love an apartment with a gym and a small balcony located for using public transportation frequently. Close to downtown or the University is a plus. We have a dog. Everything else is flexible. We'll have a car but only one of us can drive.
Any advice is appreciated! I'd love to hear things you hate about living in Minneapolis so I can check to see if we could tolerate them. Things you love are awesome, too.
Look there’s not a ton of negatives especially if you’re looking for a positive space for living as LGBTQ. The gay bar scene is varied, from a laid back dive (19 bar) to a full on gay strip club vibe (the Saloon) and everything in between. I’m a cis straight guy so I don’t even know all the spots but there’s even LGBTQ sports bars etc.
The negative to living in the twin cities will always be: 1) if you aren’t used to the winter weather, it will be jarring. It will take some financial investment in good boots/coat/accessories so plan for that. Personally, I love having all the seasons, and I think it’s worth it. But it will be a big transition 2) it can be hard to find friendships and community sometimes. Folks tend to have lasting relationships and loyalty to their small group of people, which is great once you’re part of a group, but it can take awhile to find your people.
As for recommendations on where to live, I would recommend NE Minneapolis for you - maybe around the arts district or along the river. It’s got a bit of that counter culture vibe and is close to the U. Public transit is really good around the intersections of University and Hennepin and Central, but as you get further out it’s not quite as easy. That being said, the bus system is quite good in Minneapolis in general so you can get to where you want to go most of the time without a major inconvenience.
All in all - i think you should make the move! Trans folks are welcome here!
Thank you for the advice! Both of us have experience living in colder weather, if not as cold as Minnesota will be (Indiana for me, Germany and Arkansas for him) so we'll definitely come prepared. I really appreciate the insider knowledge on which areas have the best bus access. I'll narrow our search for apartment complexes to those areas-- I think I have one or two picked out that fall in those zones. We're planning to save up 3k or 4k of excess income so we are prepared for any eventuality, and at least one of us will have a job before moving, preferably both. If all goes well we'll see the city in two years, three max!
Transmasc person here who moved to Mpls in 2018. It's wonderful, I've lived a lot of places but this is the first city where I regularly see other trans people in the wild just going about their lives - biking or on the bus or in the grocery co-op.
the winter is truly brutal, mostly because it lasts so long, but everything else makes it worth it.
God that's so refreshing to hear. Florida sucks. The only thing that makes this small area tolerable is because my partner started a support group / community for local trans people that blew up to like 250 members. There are two others, but tbe meetings only ever have max 10-20 people and they focus on mental health and housing. The community my partner launched two years ago is explicitly for mutual aid and just... hanging out in person. Without that I would not have made it this long here. Are there groups and organizations for trans people? I assume so. Discord servers I could join? I know due to the nature of the political prosecution we face the places to find our communities can be a little harder to track. Here you have to know a guy who knows a guy to find the trans communities because we don't want to end up in the local paper.
There definitely are bc I imported a friend from Massachusetts and he went out and found/joined some trans groups and made a bunch of friends, but I don't have first person experience of them bc I'm a homebody. He's even on an all-trans hockey team.
AN ALL TRANS HOCKEY TEAM SOUNDS SO COOL. Any chance you could ask him if there's a discord server I could join for Minneapolis trans people? Feel free to pm me if you're comfortable with that. I'll probably go sniff out a reddit page for Minneapolis trans people, too.
I'll ask him next time I talk to him yeah
I know of r/transtwincities
My first advice, apply to jobs now. Construction jobs pay pretty well here. I’m not entirely sure on this but at one point a MN teaching license might be required to teach in MN as it was held to a higher standard than other states, but it may have changed. Someone will correct me if I am wrong.
The university of MN is great, but spendy. I’d see if anything can transfer over for your Masters.
I’d say you can find the same apartment for the same amount of money here or a better one if you’re willing to sacrifice on not being the most desirable location.
My partner who is T1D has great health insurance through work but is thankful for the safety net here if needed.
Very friendly to trans folks within the twin cities, suburbs can be hit or miss.
A handful of gay and queer bars and hang out spots. Along with gyms, salons, bookstores etc. Checkout queermunity and TC queer transplants.
Agreed with the other poster the two biggest things are the cold and then trying to make friends in the cold. Your best time to make friends is the summer so that you’ll have friends for the cold. You have to put yourself out there and it is easier to do in the summer. Sports is a great way to do so! A handful of queer and trans friendly group sports in the area! Def check those out.
Again agreeing with the other poster who recommended northeast, it would be a great area, although check bus lines as some neighborhoods are further from bus routes. But if you’re close to one you’re good!
I will forever and always recommend south Saint Anthony park on the St. Paul side. I know this is a MPLS sub but this spot is just the hidden gem of the twin cities. Has so much to offer has a great record store, great food and coffee shops, a co-op, the best breweries (dual citizen and urban growler) and it’s a great central location and close to the UofM.
Forgot to add, check out the lyric or C&E in south Saint Anthony park.
Will do! My timeline is a little far out so I probably won't apply for work right away. I'm riding my current lease out to July and then signing one more lease, but I'm hoping by the end of THAT lease we'll be relocating, so I'll spend most of the time under my next lease job-hunting
Can’t hit all your points but, trans guy in my 30s, moved here from TX this past summer.
Cost of living similar to the Dallas area, groceries seemed higher from day 1 but electric is lower, all else pretty equivalent. Car insurance cheaper.
We fled TX for safety because of anti trans legislation. I’m also a teacher and because my birth county didn’t update my birth certificate 10 years ago per a court order, I couldn’t renew my drivers license next year and probably couldn’t have kept teaching. Look into Keshet if you need help with moving funds. You don’t have to be Jewish. Meanwhile here a school counselor emailed me last week casually using the term “gender euphoria” so your partner is going to fucking love it here. Teaching is… like we didn’t even know what we were missing in TX, it was so bad.
Health care here for trans folks is wonderful. In my experience with a workplace providing good insurance, it’s insanely good. Boggling. For trans care and diabetes care and so much more.
I lived in TX for 35 years. Drove to school on a solid 0.5-1 inch of ice as a teen many, many times. Spent adult life in the Dallas area with the added humidity to the heat. You can’t acclimate to a feels like of 120. My spouse used to say it was “literally freezing” if the temp was around 41 or so and refuse to go outside. The other day they said, “eh, once it’s cold, it’s cold” as she shrugged off a scarf. You can acclimate to this cold, and will probably do so quickly, especially if the overall quality of life boost motivates you to do so.
All the stars, highly recommend moving here.