I've lived in Minneapolis, MN my entire life and have visited every state West of the Mississippi (as well as Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin) and I have to say that outside of a few things, Minnesota is crap. One good point is the arts. We have some of the best art museums (one of which has the largest collection of Asian art in the US of A) and one of the largest arts communities in the nation. We have more live theater per capita than New York, NY and four major art festivals per year. We have a high rate of educated people and, until recently, a liberal voting record. The metro area has an incredibly efficient, wide-spread, and affordable public transit system. We have incredibly beautiful Fall seasons and inspiring Springs. The Bad? Weather, for one. It's either incredibly cold or insufferably hot and humid most of the year. Spring and Fall, our two best seasons, are only about six weeks long, total. So all one ends up wanting is the relative safety of controlled environments. What fun is that? There are only two good places to visit in Minnesota: Minneapolis and Duluth. Otherwise, the state is dotted with boring or frightenningly provincial populations of white-bred clones. There's just as many, if not more, gun-toting, fundamentalist, rednecks who exhibit uninformed false-patriotism here as there are in the rest of the country. Socially and culturally, Minnesota would have much to offer if people actually talked to each other. Two surveys have Minneapolis ranking as second or third worst city for dating. And an AOL survey of 25 cities has Minneapolis ranked as 15th when it comes to a visitors likelihood of making new friends. Not to mention, in a Harvard study, North Minneapolis was the only region to beat Los Angeles at having an untrusting populace. People smile when they walk by you but it's pained and tight-lipped. Most Minnesotans seem to consider strangers as just another abstacle in their day -- and in their way. Minnesotans are "friendly & nice" on the outside but that only lasts long enough for them to pass you by. If one were to observe the majority; they'd see a desperately guarded lot of insular people who "stick to their own." The only way to make any sort of connections in Minnesota is by basically slumming it. You've got to go bar/ club hopping and hope that a drunken mis-adventure migt ensue. Otherwise, you're SOL on making even the casualest of friends. Further, Minnesota, having the largest concentration of big chain businesses in a single metro area (Minneapolis/St. Paul) in the country, you'll be hard-pressed to find many interesting and unique places to explore. It's all about homogeny and solitude in this state. And that guy who said we don't havea problem with transients was lying. Try walking down Nicolet or Hennepin Avenues without getting asked for spare-changed at least once every block and then say that. Housing is also overpriced, which is one of the things that keep class divisions in the state so drastic. There's a huge sub-culture of poverty in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area that gets overlooked because the ammount of wide-spread gentrification. There's a huge disparity between the cost of living and what sort of wages are paid. Sallery jobs are far less common than wage jobs. That dichotomy spreads to many rural areas, as well. It's appalling. And as far as education goes, Minnesotan students who attend institutions of higher education pay some of the most hyper-inflated tutition in the nation. In some instances, like the U of M, local students can pay as much as five times over the standard of livings index. Further, the education system has been cut so far back that teachers are fighting over what jobs are available (I should know, my GF is a teacher). Not to mention the ammount of public school programs that are cut (arts, sports, and afterschool). After Los Angeles, Minneapolis' 35W has been said to have some of the worst freeway congestion in the country. This is because there's such a high percentage of people that live in far-flung suburbs yet work in the city. This makes Dowtown Minneapolis after 6pm almost antirely empty save for a six block area of bars, restaurants, and shops. The Mall of America and the other large suburban shopping centers (like Walmart) have driven the colorful indipendant businesses that you could find everywhere in Downtown Minneapolis to utter extinction. Almost every bookstore is a Borders or a Barns & Noble. The majority restaurants are chain or fast food. Even corner cafes are mostly chain. The character of the city is virtually gone -- dwindling to a few scattered pockets of wonderment and grace. Otherwise, you're just going to get more of the Midwestern malaise that pleagues everywhere from Michigan to the Dekotas. Depending on what you're looking for Minnesota might be nice. But me, I cannot wait until I can afford to move out West to San Fransisco, Portland, or