Where to live in St. Paul

My husband will be working at 3M. We may rent or buy a condo. Where is a nice, safe area to live close to shopping, etc. where young professionials might be living? Thank you.

Where to live in St. Paul

Do you want to live in St. Paul itself or a suburb?

Personally, I would look in the Cathedral Hill area, a very hip area with lot of great places to eat and you%26#39;re close to Grand Ave. The added bonus is the reverse commute to 3M, the bulk of AM traffic is heading west into town during the morning and you%26#39;d be going west.

Congrats to him on getting a job at 3M, great place to work.

Where to live in St. Paul

First, there are a lot of 3M locations in the Twin Cities, including the main HQ area. Make sure you know that first.

The key question I%26#39;d ask is whether urban (city) living appeals to you or not, and at what cost?

The city is great, but there are a lot of cool suburbs in the area, such as Woodbury, Maplewood, Oakdale, and others - that are close to shopping, safe, and with young professionals.

Since you are relocating from Madison, I%26#39;d drive over and look at some communities, to get a feel.

To clarify, there are currently very few 3M locations in the Twin Cities beyond the main campus in Maplewood. The largest current group is on St. Paul%26#39;s eastside (Corp. engineering) and these facilities will be closed in the next 12-18 months. Those departments will be located in Maplewood.

Wow, did I butcher what I was trying to say in my first post. If you live in St. Paul the morning commute east and evening commute west are much easier because you%26#39;re going against the rush heading toward the downtowns.

In St. Paul itself anything labeled Cathedral and/or Crocus Hill, Macalester-Groveland, St. Anthony Park, or Highland are very safe urban areas with a great variety of shopping and restaurants.

As mentioned, the surrounding suburbs are nice, but are also typical of a suburb one would find anywhere. To me the town that stands out is Stillwater, it is MN%26#39;s oldest town and ideally located on the St. Croix with a wonderful, historic, and fun downtown area. Very much a small town feel.

3M also has a substantial facility in Cottage Grove...about 15 miles SE of downtown St. Paul. For that matter Cottage Grove is a very reasonable commute to the Maplewood 3M HQ area via the newly improved Hwy 61. I work near (but not at) the 3M HQ and know a lot of people who can make it in 15 minutes from Cottage Grove. Housing cost is substantially lower than Woodbury yet convenient to Woodbury/Oakdale shopping centers. Not much in the way of condos but lots of townhouse options.