Koivunen posted:

I've lived in Minnesota for most of my life and definitely feel like it's the best state. I've lived in a few other states and have done a lot of travel, but found myself back in Minnesota.

Minneapolis is cool, but St. Paul has a cooler vibe. Most of my time was spent in Minneapolis, but I moved way up north because I got tired of the Cities. Northern Minnesota is amazing, I love it here. Surrounded by Nature, low cost of living, unique and eccentric people, and a better pace of life compared to living in a big city. Definitely surrounded by white people all the time, but it's a pretty liberal place where people can be who they want to be. People complain about the weather but you get used to it. There's plenty to do in the winter. Just get a shovel, an ice scraper, and some Steger mukluks and you'll be fine.

Most decent houses up here go for 80k-150k, and you can get a really nice house on land for 200-300k. If you keep your eyes peeled and don't mind some fix-up work you can get a really good deal. We paid 48k for our 2,500 square foot 4-bedroom house that needed some updating. FWIW, I make about $75k a year and comfortably support my fiance who does seasonal work, a big old dog, a cat, and am still able to save half of each pay check. Obviously living in the Cities is more expensive, but you can still get a decent house for 200k. Have you looked on any real estate websites like Trulia or Zillow to get an idea of what's available?

If you do move to the Midwest, you will take a big pay cut, and the initial change to your pay check may feel shocking. However, lower cost of living really does make up for it. A 1.5 mil house here is an enormous mansion on lake-front property. Shorter commutes mean less money spent on gas and car repairs. Being close to MSP and in the middle of the country means cheap flights anywhere, like was already mentioned. Being close to family automatically saves you $7k a year.

There is skiing (although it's not exciting compared to actual mountains), there are thousands of beaches (if you don't mind lakes), and there are lots of national parks. Minnesota is a very progressive state compared to its neighbors. Minnesota nice is definitely a thing that exists. You should move here, you'll like it.