(Didn't really know where to post this poll. Hopefully it's okay here)

My husband and I are going to be moving back to the US after years of living abroad. Neither of us want to move back to the states we grew up in, and we're at the point now where we're trying to decide between Minneapolis and Portland (OR).

This poll is basically for people who've been to (or lived in) both. We want to live in a city where we can live in the center of it all, not need a car, and experience a good arts scene.

Will appreciate any comments about either city or advice.

I LOVE Minneapolis, what with all the lakes in middle of the city. But I voted for Portland for the following reasons:

1) Portland has better public transportation, which should make it easier to be carless.

2) Neither city is known for its great weather. But Minneapolis has particularly brutal winters.

3) I've heard lots of people complain that it can be difficult to make friends in Minneapolis if you're not from there originally. On the other hand, when I was in Portland for a few days, I met some incredibly friendly people.

Very strange question. Sort of like asking which do you want? Death by hanging or death by lethal injection? I'd have to pick Portland if those were the only two. Minneapolis is so cold in the winter you have to take serious precautions against frost bite when going out.

I only know Minneapolis, not Portland. What I've heard of Portland is that it has a good public transportation system, a mild (but rainy) climate, and is excellent for biking.

Minneapolis has a decent public transit system IF you're near the line. I love the new light rail system, especially when I was stuck at the airport for 4.5 hrs until my connecting flight on Monday. But it only goes downtown, the edge of "Midtown", the airport, the Mall of America, and points in between - otherwise you use the bus.

Portland is famous for being a very bikeable city. Same with Minneapolis - cycling is very popular there, at least when it is feasible climate-wise (April to November), though some even bike commute in the winter. I think the ranking for bike commuters or bike usage puts Portland at #1 for mid-sized cities and Minneapolis second.

Portland is one of the costlier cities in the country for housing, while Minneapolis is probably around average.

I know nothing about Portland's arts / music / theater scene, but Minneapolis is said to have an excellent one. I've heard a stat that there are more theaters per capita in Minneapolis than any other city, aside from New York.

Portland has a very mild climate if you subtract the effect of winter rains. In Minneapolis, it's a heck of a lot more likely to be snowing than raining in the winter months, because it's COLD during the winter. You can count on the majority of days in December, January, and February peaking out somewhere below 0° C, quite often below -10° C. Night-time temperatures can fall (albeit on rare occasions with the urban heat island) past -30° C in Minneapolis. Both have rather mild summers, but Minneapolis's have a greater potential for heat and humidity - almost every summer there's at least one big heat wave in Minnesota, and Minneapolis usually takes the brunt of it, with temperatures above 35° C, and worse, dewpoints sometimes reaching or surpassing 25° C (70° F or 21° C is considered "oppressive" or "tropical").

Having lived in Minneapolis for over four years, I have to agree with EMH's points, especially the last one. If you didn't go to high school and/or college in the area, it can be hard to make friends. It's a very cliquey city, and I've often found that people don't want to hang out with you unless you want to be part of their 'inner circle' of friends who get together every weekend. My two closest friends are people who moved here from other cities and also haven't found a particular group they want to be a part of, and most of the rest of the friends I've made were introduced to me by an ex-girlfriend who was a part of their circle. I'm not saying you won't make any friends here, just that you'll have to work harder at it than you would in other cities. There aren't any major attractions in Minneapolis to draw in young people from other areas of the country, so it lacks the dynamism of many other mid-size cities (e.g. Portland, Seattle, Austin).

As the last poster mentioned, Minneapolis does have a good theater scene, some cool museums, and a good Tango/ballroom dance scene, according to a friend of mine who's into dance. Portland gets the nod as far as music and outdoor activities are concerned.

An apple and an orange, kind of. I've only visited Portland, and have been based in Minneapolis for the past 15 years. Both are very green, progressive cities. People in Minneapolis have a reputation for being hard to get to know. The local music and arts scenes are vibrant, but again insular and self-referential. Both cities have excellent bike trails; Portland is often rainy though, while Minneapolis is too cold for anyone but the hardiest biker to use them four months out of the year. I think Minneapolis is slightly cheaper in terms of rentals, and quite a bit cheaper in property values. Minneapolis has one of the world's top research universities (University of Minnesota), which I think Portland lacks. I know of a lot of smaller, liberal arts schools there, but no big universities. Minneapolis has a major international airport too, with a Northworst hub.

quote:

Originally posted by Felix:
Minneapolis has one of the world's top research universities (University of Minnesota), which I think Portland lacks. I know of a lot of smaller, liberal arts schools there, but no big universities.

U of P and PSU are nothing to get excited about but OHSU (Oregon Health and Sciences University) is a pretty large scale employer, hospital and has great educational programs for health professionals and an EXCELLENT research program. Ok, maybe I'm biased but the point is, it depends on what type of research you're looking for.

There's more to life than art.

There is a name for a city without art: "Houston"

Houston isn't a real attractive city but they have massive art grants and support for the arts in general. My sister says is cos of all the oil money wives with spare time to raise money amongst their friends. No idea if that's true or not.

I'll lump my vote in for Portland. The poll is heavily skewed in that direction too. We had a former BnA staffer who was from Minneapolis and moved to Portland and she was much happier out here lifestyle-wise. Housing prices are probably still higher than average it's true, but there is a great variety to choose from that's still close in to the city.

If I didn't have such inertia here in Minneapolis, I'd probably opt for Portland too.

In your posting, it wasn't clear what you are looking for in your next move. I live in Portland and love it. However, you should know that housing prices have not fallen here even though the economy has taken a hit like everywhere else. Unless you are looking for a fixer, or a very small home, you may have a bit of sticker shock. That can make it now a more expensive option than other comparable cities. For me, though, there is no other city in the US where I'd rather live (and luckily I moved here quite a while ago when housing was more affordable then it is now).

I live in Portland (going on 3 years) but I grew up in the Twin Cities Metro (granted I grew up in the boonies out beyond the eastern Wisconsin suburbs)

I've spent lots of time in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, having lived in the latter for almost a year.

In Minne unless you're extremely lucky you WILL need a car,and you'll also need to be very selective of the neighborhood you choose to live in and the better ones are just as expensive to live in as Portland is.

Here in Portland I live in a boring working class neighborhood but its CHEAP and I'm still only a 10 or twenty minute bus or train ride away from the more exciting neighborhoods and maybe a half hour from downtown. You can't do that in Minne.

Another thing is safety I can count on one hand the amount of times I maybe felt a little nervous walking around Portland, in Minne there's some neighborhoods I wouldn't dare step foot in after dark even some parts of downtown.

Minne's biggest strengths are its awesome theatre season, access to top quality sporting events (if you're into either of those) biking trails and access to open water (in the summer unless you want to try ice fishing)

The Twin Cities likes to talk about "Minnesota nice" but ironically in those two cities its more like "Minnesota ice" The people, as others have stated tend to be much more cliquey in Minne than in Portland.

But one problem Portland does have is an over abundance of tight pant wearing urban hipsters who tend to be vapid and judgemental of others. (see the Mercury as an example)

Because of family concerns I have been tempted to move back to the Midwest, but I know IF I ever do it'll be to Chicago or Madison NOT the Twin Cities.