This is my opinion after living and working in Minneapolis for 18 months, having moved from Chicago. It is unfair to compare the twin cities to huge cities like Chicago, so I'm making my opinions after spending some quality time in St. Louis, Indianapolis and Denver. I find MPLS to be socially the worst of those cities. Many people are from here originally, or their spouse is from here. As such, it seems really difficult to break into a group or make friends. I have NEVER heard of so many people still hanging out with high school friends-- is a mentality that does not suit me. The young "hipster" thing still seems to be in full swing in areas like uptown, and the attitude around there is ridiculous. It seems many 30-40 year olds are either gone or married in the burbs.

Upper midwesterners are a reserved bunch. As such, service in general seems to be lackluster, and folks seem a bit apathetic or unmotivated. See Padrik81's review, and that is the attitude that comes through ALL too clearly. It almost seems like people are a bit depressed. Rent is REALLY overpriced in this city as well, though home prices are moderate.

Driving is frustrating as people are very timid and the road designs are needlessly complicated (lets give people who don't like to merge or accelerate 4,000 opportunities to hold up traffic by making them try to merge!!) and, in my opinion, construction projects take FOREVER. Downtown Minneapolis has been in construction shambles since I arrived.

All that said, the twin cities area is politically forward, and offers a lot of great theatre. The Guthrie is a must see..so cool.

Nice, clean, green, relatively safe city. With the exception of the harsh winters, the quality of life is quite good. Among the best green spaces of any city I have been to, but a bit sprawling. It is fairly progressive, although it is only modestly diverse.

Restaurant scene is mediocre, theatre scene is exceptional, art scene is pretty good, music scene is quite good.

I used to live there and had a nice life and a lot of friends who were interesting people, but I could imagine it would seem a bit sterile and bland to some visitors. Although it is a nice place to live, it may not be the most interesting place to visit. The people are generally polite, but they can be quiet and not necessarily open. It is kind of like Scandinavia, in that way.

All this discussion of Mpls/StP without mention of the U??  Go Gophers! Awesome theatre district, Shopping of every imaginable variety at the mega-mall and the Dales and the downtowns. A Park/trail System that rivals the finest cities in America. The Minnesota Orchestra! And gotta love that Swedish/Norwegian/German efficiency: Put up a bridge of those specs in less than a year?? Unheard of!!

Minneapolis / St. Paul has many great things to offer: Jobs, education, culture, better than average dining (downtown), millions of parks with bike trails, int'l airport, and adequate nightlife. However for singles this place might be the worst place in the world. Here if you havn't a mate picked out by the time you're 20, MOVE TO CHICAGO. This is not a joke.

twin cities is really together. lots of musuems, great business and job area. great quality of life scores. but, I have never really met or seen anyone really interesting come outta there. plus, I cant dig on a 5 month winter. that is too long to be hibernating. sort of weird compact skyline, too, like it is all in one block.

fun, crazy bar scene on 1st Avenue and Henippen Ave (parallel eachother).  VERY cultural, lots of plays, huge music scene (see First Avenue)

awesome

This rating thing is a complete joke. Most of these individuals writing on this blog are making flash judgements on what little of this city they have seen. I was born and raised in this city and still live here to this day. (south minneap). I don't expect any of you to really be able to appreciate this city because we don't really cater to out of towners. Frankly, we don't really care what you think because we're to busy having a good time on our own. I could go on and on with facts as to why this city is awesome but thats not the point of this rant. The point is just don't come. Stay on your superficial, under educated, elitist coasts and leave us be. Nuf said.

ugly city w/ a mirage downtown

I've lived in Minneapolis for about 4 years and I think the city is boring. Either east or west coast is a better place. Minnesotans think they are open minded, but that's a far cry from reality. Cheap city. But then again, you get what you pay for...

I love to live in Minneapolis/St. Paul. It has lowest crime rate, affordable living, and tourist destinations such as Mall of America, Science Museum, Metrodome; wintertime with snow, great fishing place, great parks
and other things.

I think the Twin Cities are way too suburban oriented. Minneapolis has a fairly vibrant downtown along Nicollet, although Eat Street is fairly bland. The brand new library, parks system and the new Walker art museum is excellent. The neighborhoods with the exception of Uptown are kinda blah also. Crime is higher then one would expect also for the metropolitan area being so prosperous. St. Paul rolls up at 5pm and the area along University isnt impressive at all.

I would recommend Minneapolis for somebody trying to find decent employment, but I dont see why people would visit just to see the Walker Art Center, the Nicollet Mall and the Mall of America (which has a more impressive parking lot then anything).

The city is suprisingly diverse (for one expects), I believe Minneapolis is a quarter african american and it has the largest Somali population in America in the Cedar-Riverside area and St. Paul has the largest Hmong population in North America also.

The twin cities is worth a visit, provided that it's during the summer. it is not entirely lacking in culture, although i will say that the suburban feel is thanks to an incredible amount of low density sprawl surrounding the core cities. inside the cities one finds fantastic architecture, good bars, but overall crap restaurants unless you're prepared to pay a lot. the airport is fantastic, and the skyline is easily one of the most beautiful in North America. the theater scene is pretty good, but whoever claims that the guthrie is a decent art museum obviously has never visited it; it is a piece of shit. the freeway system is horrendously underdesigned. The economy is terrific, and the twin cities is home to a plethora of giant companies, including Northwest, 3M, General Mills, Carlson, Cargill, Pillsbury, US Bank, C.H. Robinson, Medtronic, Scimed, Wells Fargo finance, Amex finance, Piper Jaffray, Sun Country, St. Paul Companies, Target Stores, and numerous others. Mall of America is overrated.

Many of the stereoptypes of Minneapolis stem from its suburbs and not the city itself. The city is incredibly diverse and generally middle-class. The sections of the city which are often categorized as "slums" are actually not that different from the rest of the city in terms of average income and the style of the houses (granted crime is a bit higher in these neighborhoods). Minneapolis' skyline is the best in the Midwest after Chicago. Downtown is filled with shopping and good restaurants. I don't know that much about St. Paul, but based on the two times I have been to Minneapolis, I have nothing bad to say about this region. The highway system is sort of confusing, but if I lived here, I'm sure I could figure it out.

MN is a good place to live (good economy, low crime, good public schools, good health care) but as a vistor, it isn't the most exciting place to go (other than the performing arts, there isn't a whole lot going on - unless you like shopping at malls.) Fezzador, get outta the '60's. Any MN politician will tell you that MN is a swing state - that's why it's been close in 4 out of the last 6 presidential elections, why it has a GOP governor and senator, and why 5/7 of the statewide elected officials are GOP. MN is becoming a national bellweather state.

No culture. You got to be frickin nuts, or just plain ignorant. Minneapolis is one of the most cultured cities in the states. The highest number of Somali and Hmong refugess reside in the Twin Cities. Minneaplois is second to only New York in theatre and arts. The Twin Cities is home to a number of Fortune 500 companies that got their start in MN. MN has more golf courses than any state and more shoreline. I could go on. Things you out of towners probably had no clue about. That's good, though. Oh, the air is clean and we actually like to work in Minnesota.

Little more than a bastion for people (Democrats in particular) who are highly out of touch with the rest of the planet. More or less an uninteresting collection of hicks of varying income levels.

I went here a few years back and found everything about these cities wondeful. It was November and it had just began to flurry as I walked down the streets of St Paul. Talk about gorgeous and CLEAN.Lots of things to do, very very cool there.

If you in the suburbs of any city and enjoy it than you will love Minneapolis/St.Paul. Unlike Denver and Cleveland which feel more urban, Minneapolis/St.Paul feels like a suburb, they have cookie-cutter low-quality brand-new homes right in the downtown of Minneapolis (LOL). Minneapolis is perhaps, the most boring big city in America. Minneapolis is very unfriendly, if you dont fit the middle-class, soccer-mom stereotype dont go to conservative Minneapolis. All and all, the economy is fairly good, the crime is lower than most big cities, but be prepared to be bored.

I have lived in the city of Minneapolis for five years, and would consider it the finest city in the midwest, and one of the best in the nation. The architecture is superb--name one other metro of 3 million or less in the U.S. with a skyline that even comes close to Minneapolis. The arts scene here is second to none, tons of theater, and also one of the finest contemporary art museums (Walker) and sculpture gardens in the nation. Downtown is vibrant, with 180,000 workers, and 30,000 residents; and the restaurants and hotels there are truly becoming world class. Le Meridian Art+Tech has been rated one of the top 100 hotels in the world by Conde Nast, and Solera has been rated one of the top 100 restaurants in the world by Food+Wine Magazine. To the person who said Minneapolis has almost no diversity: The city is almost 40% minority. Compare this to Portland, OR and Boston, MA.

Nice people and seeing a Wild hockey game (or any other hockey game for that matter) is truly a treat. Minnesotans know how to do that right. Now if they could only learn how to drive . . .

All of you who visted st paul or minneapolis and think they are great cities are sadly mistaken. I live there and the neighborhood is horrible. Alot of drugs go around, and everything else. The only good areas is where the people who live there have alot of money.

I live in Minneapolis...no minorities? There are plenty...and no bad neighborhoods? Apparently North Minneapolis and East Franklin are joy rides.

The lack of minorities makes for a low crime rate, yet also sort of a low culture rate, if that makes any sense at all. The mall of america was freaking huge!

Minneapolis may be great, but the airport isn't! I fly NW, and have to make connections there, since I need a wheelchair, I specified it, and there was one waiting for me, but the gates were too far apart, and the wheel chair gal said she couldn't go that far, and I needed a cart, well, before I made it, I had 3 carts and 2 wheel chairs to get me to the gate. Coming back, it was the same thing, only I got to my gate and they were loading, I almost missed my plane. This upsets me, since I need a wheelchair and hard for me to ride the carts. What is wrong with NW, when you ask for a wheel chair, then do it all the way! Has anyone had this problem?

Best of big American Cities!

No culture, no night life, bad racism, very cold.

Hey they are great. Beautiful airport, nice area, clean city lots to do here are some sites to visit...mall of america, minnesota zoo, science museum, france avenue(for great eating) valley fair, target center for shows and other activities, chanhassen dinner theatre, and so many other interesting sites and great shopping and restaurants. The twin cities are probably some of the cleanest cities in the u.s. !!

A little to expensive to drink. But for the most part I've had fun in the twin cities.

It is a modern progressive American city that for better or worse has the smallest minority population of the top 50 markets in the US. With this deficiency, this town lacks some of the cultural diversity that other large cities have, contrary to what the locals think, it can be sterile. Overall, city is very prosperous and offers as much to do as most cities minus a large beach.

not worth a visit unless you happen to be in the area.

These are wonderful cities and a nice surrounding area. There is a lot to do, and each of the four seasons provides a beautiful experience. Couldn't ask for a better place to be living in.

Mall of America in Bloomington is worth a visit. An indoor roller coaster is hard to beat!! Very cultural city. Lots of lakes. Arctic like temperatures from Nov thru April.

It's a different destination in the winter. But in the summer, the Twin Cities are full of great things to do. More people patronize local theater here than anywhere else in the United States (per capita), evidence that Minneapolis and St. Paul have a great cultural scene. The air is clean, the city is nice and safe, and the surrounding state is beautiful. What's not to like?

Sure it's too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter, but the cultural amenities and natural environment are outstanding.

Sure it's too hot in the summer and way too cold in the winter, but the cultural amenities and natural environment are outstanding.