My wife are starting to plan our next forced relocation and Rochester is near the top of my list.

What's it like up there?

My wife is concerned about the weather. She is a southerner and hasn't particularly like living here in Ohio. She's problably mostly sick of the HORRIBLE economy in the last two places we lived.

I'm specifically trying to get a feel for 1) the job market for my wife (hospital administrative stuff) 2) housing prices 3) general attititude of the people (read: at least somewhat conservative) and, of course, 3) gun laws/CCW.

Any advice would be appreciated.

The mopst Well Known Hospital in the World is in Rochester...the Mayo Clinic!
Lots of Jobs there.

Weather sucks November-March.

Ohio may on the average be a little warmer,but there is more lake effect snow.  

Overall, the climate is similar.

I live in Rochester. Weather is, well, Minnesota weather. If you don't like the weather, wait a minute. It's the beginning of Jan and it was 36 today. Personally I wish it would cool down and snow, instead of this rain, slush crap we've been getting.

The job market for hospital staff here is, of course strong. Mayo being the symbolic base of the community. My Mom works as a Nurse Manager at Mayo and has been there for 20+ years. Although, I vaguely remember her talking to my dad about their retirement benefits getting screwed with. Something about them having to work longer until being able to draw off their retirement.

Housing here is expensive. I'm a Carpenter and the prices are very high. Single family, 2 bed, 2 bath homes in the "middle class" parts of town go for 150-200k+. If you want to have a house in the suburbs with the "nice" neighborhoods, then expect to pay that just for the lot. Hire someone to build a house and you're easily in the Half a Million area. If you don't have to be in town, look for a house in the surrounding area. St Charles, Oronoco, some of the smaller towns around here, prices are a little softer there. Byron, however, while a small town compared to Rochester, has really high housing prices, and the taxes there, for some reason, are really bad.

People here are like people most everywhere else. Some really nice people, some trashy assholes. Fortunately I've seen more of the former, than the later.

Gun laws...no bad laws really. Shall Issue CCW state. No Suppressors, C&R MG's are ok, no new toys though.

Are you in Cleveland?  (Cleveland Clinic?)  I lived there a while before moving to Rochester.  We actually got A LOT more snow in Cleveland than here in Rochester.  I hear that Mayo is a great place to work, so that's a real plus.  The two downsides are that Rochester shuts down around 9:00 and it's hard to break in socially.  But thanks to AR15.com, you now have some guys to hang out with here.  :)

John Munis

As great as the Mayo Clinic is and not taking anything away from that....Move to the Twin Cities area. Plenty of hospitals and clinics around to choose from. The Twin Cities and the area have more to offer you from so many different area's from sports, nightlife, family activities, culture, entertainment, etc..
Having lived in both towns....Hands down the Twin Cities WIN....

The poster above is correct about the Twin Cities being the better place as far as jobs.  If your job requires you to physically work in Rochester, and yet your wife wants more opportunities, you could live halfway in between, say in Cannon Falls, near Hwy. 52.

My wife is concerned about the weather. She is a southerner and hasn't particularly like living here in Ohio.

It can get very chilly in MN, even southern MN.  The average temperatures this time of year are 23 for a high and 6 for a low IIRC from last night's weather here in The Cities.  You can probably find the statistics at NOAA.  The statistically coldest part of the year is yet to come.  The coldest day on average is Jan. 28, again, IIRC.  OTOH, we have generally had very mild winters for the last 15 - 20 years.

She's problably mostly sick of the HORRIBLE economy in the last two places we lived.

The economy is pretty good in The Cities.  Rochester, being a smaller area, doesn't see the economic swings that the larger cities do.  OTOH, I read the other day that the economy in The Cities only created 1000 jobs over the last 5 months of 2005.

I'm specifically trying to get a feel for 1) the job market for my wife (hospital administrative stuff)

See above.

2) housing prices

I just had a friend move from southern suburbs to Columbus, OH & he said that you get a lot more house for your money in suburban Columbus.  There seems to be a sudden slowdown in housing in the suburbs however.  (I'm not a realtor, nor did I stay at Holiday Inn Express last night.)  I think that there are realtors websites for Minneapolis as well as a separate one for St. Paul.

3) general attititude of the people (read: at least somewhat conservative)

It seems like the people are about evenly spilt as far as conservative vs. liberal.  Right in both Minneapolis and St. Paul there seems to be an ongoing contest to see which candidate can be a bigger communist.  The suburbs seem to be more conservative and are finally starting to show their voting muscle.  We have a good Polish Republican governor, but we have a Republican US senator who just defected from the Dems about 5 years ago.  (Nonetheless he's been a terrific REPUBLICAN senator.)  This year we will vote for a new senator to replace the retiring limousine liberal, Mark Dayton, who "bought" his seat with his family fortune, Dayton Stores and Target Stores.  Interestingly we seem to have a large population of limousine liberals, which always surprises me.

and, of course, 3) gun laws/CCW.

As the poster above mentioned we have pretty good gun laws.  We just got CCW passed again last summer and there is only one small court challenge going on the last that I heard.  I don't know what the residence requirements are, but it's mostly just a matter of taking an approved course, getting the certificate, and applying for your permit.  The whole thing usually seems to cost about $200 and the permit is good for 5 years when you will have to do it all over again.

Thanks for the information so far.

We are about 45 minutes from Cleveland.

I do need to actually be in Rochester or close by. I'm looking at a job at Mayo.

Here are some links to check out our county and city:
www.ci.rochester.mn.us
www.olmstedcounty.com
www.rochester.k12.mn.us
www.co.olmsted.mn.us

Quoted: Thanks for the information so far. We are about 45 minutes from Cleveland. I do need to actually be in Rochester or close by. I'm looking at a job at Mayo.

Rochester is a lot better than some of the others have said, particularly if you're not a fan of big metropolitan areas.  I grew up on a farm about 20 miles from Rochester, but now live up North.  It's a great city.  There's pretty much everything you need there, and it seems like there's always something new opening when we go back to visit family.  We've been thinking about moving back.  Traffic in the cities sucks and the drivers are horrible.  Around Rochester it isn't that bad at all, even around the busy times.  They just expanded HWY 52 through town to a 6 lane and made traveling through a lot easier.

I have several friends and relatives who work at Mayo.  Their benefits aren't quite as good as they used to be, but whose are these days.  They're still a lot better than most.

Housing around Roch isn't cheap, but it's not as bad as the Twin Cities.  It's really not much worse than the Brainerd area, where I'm at.  If you go out from Roch 20-30 miles, housing costs go down, and unless it's bad weather, it shouldn't take you much longer than 30 minutes to get to work.  I've looked at housing and areas like Kasson and Mantorville (where I grew up) or like Plainview and Elgin are still reasonable.

As far as the people, they're not that bad.  The farming communities are still the best.

Maybe take a short trip to the area for a few days.  I'm sure you could meet with Mayo to see what they're like, and then check out the area to see if you'll like it.

Any other questions, feel free to shoot me an IM or e-mail.

Quoted: Quoted: Thanks for the information so far. We are about 45 minutes from Cleveland. I do need to actually be in Rochester or close by. I'm looking at a job at Mayo. Rochester is a lot better than some of the others have said, particularly if you're not a fan of big metropolitan areas.  I grew up on a farm about 20 miles from Rochester, but now live up North.  It's a great city.  There's pretty much everything you need there, and it seems like there's always something new opening when we go back to visit family.  We've been thinking about moving back.  Traffic in the cities sucks and the drivers are horrible.  Around Rochester it isn't that bad at all, even around the busy times.  They just expanded HWY 52 through town to a 6 lane and made traveling through a lot easier. I have several friends and relatives who work at Mayo.  Their benefits aren't quite as good as they used to be, but whose are these days.  They're still a lot better than most. Housing around Roch isn't cheap, but it's not as bad as the Twin Cities.  It's really not much worse than the Brainerd area, where I'm at.  If you go out from Roch 20-30 miles, housing costs go down, and unless it's bad weather, it shouldn't take you much longer than 30 minutes to get to work.  I've looked at housing and areas like Kasson and Mantorville (where I grew up) or like Plainview and Elgin are still reasonable. As far as the people, they're not that bad.  The farming communities are still the best. Maybe take a short trip to the area for a few days.  I'm sure you could meet with Mayo to see what they're like, and then check out the area to see if you'll like it. Any other questions, feel free to shoot me an IM or e-mail.

Good idea. If you do decide to make a short trip up here to see what everything is like, I'm sure a few of the local ARFCOM guys would love to show you around.

Byron checking in.
I used to live in Brooklyn, NY so anything is better. I love it out here.
Drop me a line and I can give you a guided tour and make a trip to the range afterwards

my wifes parents commute from plainview to rochester for work.  there are a bunch of small towns in the 30 mile range that will cut the housing costs by about half.  i want to say the the overall feeling towards guns is "anti" in that area, but it is more like un-informed and can't see the purpose of guns in a modern society.  i grew up in the frigid north (two hours north of duluth), and let me tell you the weather in the rochester area is quite a bit more mild than the northern part of the state.  there is an ok little gun shop on N. Broad (? correct me if i'm wrong)  they always seem to have a good supply of US c&r weapons and arisakas (old school gun shop style crammed with crap).

Quoted:  there is an ok little gun shop on N. Broad (? correct me if i'm wrong)  they always seem to have a good supply of US c&r weapons and arisakas (old school gun shop style crammed with crap).

Wild Goose
Not really, the selection has really gotten poor in the past few years at least when ever I stop in there.

I wanted to add that the mayo Clinic has a busing program for employess, or at least they did a couple of years ago.  It was through Rochester City Lines, and they would pick up employees at most of the cities surrounding Rochester.  I don't know all of the details though.  My Dad drove for them for a while, and that is what they did.

twonami

thanks for the update on wild goose.  if i get some free time this next weekend i'll have to check it out again. i'm doing a quicky belated christmas trip to the in-laws next weekend.

Have to add my 2 cents,  Yes mayo does shuttle from some of the smaller towns.. Housing can be affordable in rochester, depending on square footage.. An older 1955-65 2,000 sq ft house in country club manner will be around the 135-160,00 range.. And a real good neighbor hood IMHO...

(and as for the wild goose.. That place has really gone to the birds..Not much of a selection unless you like beat up old pre WWII era memorabilia)

i almost forgot my favorite part of rochester.... Zorba's greek restaurant. yum yum yum!

Thats a big +1 on Zorbas.  Best greek resurant around!!!

+2 on Zorbas. Micheals has really good escargot

Quoted: And you JUST CANNOT BEAT John Hardy's BBQ!!! There used to be one in Mankato that I had to stop in ALL the time!!!   Now getting that flavor of BBQ Sauce is impossible anywhere else in MN. I've had better BBQ down in Texas, but nobody can seem to replicate that FANTASTIC BBQ sauce!   HEY, someone from down in that neck of the woods let me know if you're coming up to "the cities" for a shoot sometime.  I might be willing to pay TWICE the cost for a jar of their "Medium" BBQ sauce!  Mmmmm...  I can taste it in my mind right now...  ***DROOL***

i can drag a couple bottles up for you but you'll have to remind me before the next shoot

HEY, someone from down in that neck of the woods let me know if you're coming up to "the cities" for a shoot sometime. I might be willing to pay TWICE the cost for a jar of their "Medium" BBQ sauce! Mmmmm... I can taste it in my mind right now... ***DROOL***




I was just up there today from down here..Should have spoke up sooner!!!! I get up there when i can.. I will be up there hopefully this week or the next for a handgun purchse. (wishfull thinking))  I can get you hooked up!!