Minneapolis or St. Paul — where should we buy?
Answered by Chris Deutsch, Founder & Editor
Licensed Minnesota Realtor #20382264 ·
The short answer
They're twenty minutes and a full personality apart. Minneapolis runs newer, denser, faster. Think the chain of lakes, a bigger restaurant and job concentration, more condo and loft stock, and historically the more liquid resale market. St. Paul runs older and quieter: bigger lots for the dollar, Victorian and Craftsman streets Minneapolis can't match — Cathedral Hill, Crocus Hill, Mac-Groveland. It also has a neighborhood permanence where people buy once and stay decades.
On stage The 60-second answer
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The longer answer
The trade-offs, honestly: Minneapolis generally costs more for less square footage and moves faster when you sell. St. Paul gives you more house and calmer blocks, with a slower resale pace and, as a rule of thumb, slightly higher property taxes.
The deciding question isn't which city is better — it's which Saturday is yours. Walking to a lake and a new restaurant: Minneapolis. A porch on a quiet street with a bakery three blocks over: St. Paul. Tell me your commute and your Saturday, and this decision mostly makes itself.
The next department over
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From the editor's desk
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Is your situation more specific than the market? That's the one worth talking through.