Should we move to Rochester, MN?
October 21, 2019 12:26 PM Subscribe
What's it like to live in Rochester, MN as an introverted, left-wing, literary/artsy person who loves to fence, cook, and talk about philosophy?
My husband and I are trying to decide whether or not we want to move to Rochester, MN. I've been accepted to Mayo's doctoral program in nurse anesthesia, and he'd be a trailing spouse with a work-from-home job.
I'm concerned that the move will result in him being super isolated with no job to help him meet people. Grad school will be stressful enough for both of us, and I'm worried that the whole town is one big hospital and neither of us will be able to find our people there.
Are there any groups/activities/communities/volunteering opportunities we should check out?
Additional notes: We are not church people, so that's out as a way to find a community. Assume we will be fine with the weather.
My husband and I are trying to decide whether or not we want to move to Rochester, MN. I've been accepted to Mayo's doctoral program in nurse anesthesia, and he'd be a trailing spouse with a work-from-home job.
I'm concerned that the move will result in him being super isolated with no job to help him meet people. Grad school will be stressful enough for both of us, and I'm worried that the whole town is one big hospital and neither of us will be able to find our people there.
Are there any groups/activities/communities/volunteering opportunities we should check out?
Additional notes: We are not church people, so that's out as a way to find a community. Assume we will be fine with the weather.
I've been in Rochester since 2012 and lived in much smaller (Northfield MN) and much larger (Boston) places before that. It's easy to be isolated here, especially in the winter. There are some bars with live music in town. The civic center has theater and concerts. Spring / Summer / Fall can be beautiful with lots of outdoor activity options, parks. bike paths, etc. Every Thursday from June through the end of August there's an outdoor craft / concert event that takes over 4 blocks downtown. It goes into the evening and is one of the nicer summer events. They also have music at Peace Plaza (also downtown) and open air movie showings (all free).
There's a fairly active meetup.com group ("Rochester Area Social Group") that gets together a few times a month ( trivia nights, group dinners, seeing movies / theater / etc together ).
There are a few other meetup groups you might be a good fit for, too, it's worth taking a look.
There's a cool MakerSpace that meets every Friday if you're interested in socializing while hacking on stuff. They get together for dinner there and hang out late into the evening doing projects, and discussing other geekery.
The public library is right downtown and excellent.
The Rochester Art Center is downtown too with galleries and workshops.
You might consider volunteering at the Channel One Food Bank. My kids spend a day packing grocery bags there every few months.
I'm pretty introverted too and it's been enough for me. I'm sure there are things I haven't run across since moving here as well. I don't disagree with scantee's characterization ( conservative, bland, flat ) but I came to it after 5 years in a much smaller town, so it felt like a relief getting here. Minneapolis/St. Paul is about an hour and twenty minutes away and we get there maybe once a month.
Feel free to memail me with questions.
posted by roue at 1:24 PM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
There's a fairly active meetup.com group ("Rochester Area Social Group") that gets together a few times a month ( trivia nights, group dinners, seeing movies / theater / etc together ).
There are a few other meetup groups you might be a good fit for, too, it's worth taking a look.
There's a cool MakerSpace that meets every Friday if you're interested in socializing while hacking on stuff. They get together for dinner there and hang out late into the evening doing projects, and discussing other geekery.
The public library is right downtown and excellent.
The Rochester Art Center is downtown too with galleries and workshops.
You might consider volunteering at the Channel One Food Bank. My kids spend a day packing grocery bags there every few months.
I'm pretty introverted too and it's been enough for me. I'm sure there are things I haven't run across since moving here as well. I don't disagree with scantee's characterization ( conservative, bland, flat ) but I came to it after 5 years in a much smaller town, so it felt like a relief getting here. Minneapolis/St. Paul is about an hour and twenty minutes away and we get there maybe once a month.
Feel free to memail me with questions.
posted by roue at 1:24 PM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]
Where are you coming from? If it's not the upper Midwest, it will be hard for you to imagine how incredibly cold it gets in the winter. I had trouble starting my car one night in the winter and my hands, exposed to 20 F (-7 C) weather for about 10 minutes, actually got a touch of frostbite. So really think hard about this if you're not used to seriously frigid winters.
As far as the people, everyone I knew there was a Republican church-goer, but I'm not prepared to say there aren't other types there as well.
posted by ubiquity at 2:09 PM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
As far as the people, everyone I knew there was a Republican church-goer, but I'm not prepared to say there aren't other types there as well.
posted by ubiquity at 2:09 PM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Huh, I'm kind of surprised at how negative other commenters are being, honestly.
I lived in an urban area of about the same size as Rochester, a couple of hours away, for five years. One of my best friends there had previously done a postdoc in Rochester and enjoyed it. I miss our farmer's market, which was full of all kinds of southeast Asian vegetables (grown by Hmong farmers) as well as the usual tomatoes & cucumbers & so forth, and there was lots of tasty beer from independent breweries (though maybe that was easier to find on the Wisconsin side). The weather was actually easier to handle than I expected; it helps that I bought a giant down coat.
But also, people were just really engaged in civic life. In big cities, people often expect that a specialist will organize an activity, and they can just show up to be entertained. In a smaller place, folks chip in to make their own activities. My spouse (also trailing) found a group of people training martial arts in a park, and became heavily involved in the club; I learned English country dance from someone who made nyckelharpa. I knew union organizers and folks running for office and other people fighting for leftist causes, too. I think if you make an effort to find sympathetic people, they will be there to be found.
posted by yarntheory at 4:21 PM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
I lived in an urban area of about the same size as Rochester, a couple of hours away, for five years. One of my best friends there had previously done a postdoc in Rochester and enjoyed it. I miss our farmer's market, which was full of all kinds of southeast Asian vegetables (grown by Hmong farmers) as well as the usual tomatoes & cucumbers & so forth, and there was lots of tasty beer from independent breweries (though maybe that was easier to find on the Wisconsin side). The weather was actually easier to handle than I expected; it helps that I bought a giant down coat.
But also, people were just really engaged in civic life. In big cities, people often expect that a specialist will organize an activity, and they can just show up to be entertained. In a smaller place, folks chip in to make their own activities. My spouse (also trailing) found a group of people training martial arts in a park, and became heavily involved in the club; I learned English country dance from someone who made nyckelharpa. I knew union organizers and folks running for office and other people fighting for leftist causes, too. I think if you make an effort to find sympathetic people, they will be there to be found.
posted by yarntheory at 4:21 PM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
I had trouble starting my car one night in the winter and my hands, exposed to 20 F (-7 C) weather for about 10 minutes, actually got a touch of frostbite.
Not in 20-degree weather above zero, you didn’t. In Minnesota, it is common to see people outside in 20-degree weather wearing nothing more than a thick sweatshirt, and nobody’s getting frostbite. Don’t be silly.
Anyway.
Rochester’s a big enough town where you’ll have all the usual amenities, with 115,000 people and a pretty fast hour to the Twin Cities. I know at least one person who lives in Rochester and commutes to the south metro for work, but if you’re not used to driving in the winter, I wouldn’t necessarily buy into that scenario right off the bat.
Conservative? Yeah, probably. You can find liberals everywhere (Minnesota has a pretty strong liberal tradition), but Fox News has its impact here as well, and it’s much more prevalent in rural areas and outstate than it is in the Twin Cities. It can be done, though—I’m a blue dot in a red district, and there are still plenty of us around.
It might be worthwhile to consider choosing housing in a city that would be a reasonable midpoint, so that you might be a half hour from work, and half an hour from the metro. For example, somewhere within 10 minutes of Rosemount might be a good compromise.
I personally think Rochester is a lovely little city with great natural scenery, and there are lots of little cafes and restaurants and stuff like that to enjoy. You’re also within an hour’s drive of Red Wing and Lake Pepin (very scenic and historic), Amish country, and several college campuses (Northfield, Winona) so really, it would take you at least a year or two to exhaust all your options for adventure if you really pushed the envelope.
You don’t say how long your program is going to last (3-4 years?) but I think it’d be fine for at least that long. It’s not like Rochester is the ass end of nowhere, after all, it’s the third largest city in Minnesota. For the opportunity to study at the Mayo, I would definitely recommend giving it a shot.
The Mayo does have a Minneapolis campus as well, so the future may well offer you the opportunity to relocate to a more urban center, if that is your long-term preference.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:14 PM on October 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
Not in 20-degree weather above zero, you didn’t. In Minnesota, it is common to see people outside in 20-degree weather wearing nothing more than a thick sweatshirt, and nobody’s getting frostbite. Don’t be silly.
Anyway.
Rochester’s a big enough town where you’ll have all the usual amenities, with 115,000 people and a pretty fast hour to the Twin Cities. I know at least one person who lives in Rochester and commutes to the south metro for work, but if you’re not used to driving in the winter, I wouldn’t necessarily buy into that scenario right off the bat.
Conservative? Yeah, probably. You can find liberals everywhere (Minnesota has a pretty strong liberal tradition), but Fox News has its impact here as well, and it’s much more prevalent in rural areas and outstate than it is in the Twin Cities. It can be done, though—I’m a blue dot in a red district, and there are still plenty of us around.
It might be worthwhile to consider choosing housing in a city that would be a reasonable midpoint, so that you might be a half hour from work, and half an hour from the metro. For example, somewhere within 10 minutes of Rosemount might be a good compromise.
I personally think Rochester is a lovely little city with great natural scenery, and there are lots of little cafes and restaurants and stuff like that to enjoy. You’re also within an hour’s drive of Red Wing and Lake Pepin (very scenic and historic), Amish country, and several college campuses (Northfield, Winona) so really, it would take you at least a year or two to exhaust all your options for adventure if you really pushed the envelope.
You don’t say how long your program is going to last (3-4 years?) but I think it’d be fine for at least that long. It’s not like Rochester is the ass end of nowhere, after all, it’s the third largest city in Minnesota. For the opportunity to study at the Mayo, I would definitely recommend giving it a shot.
The Mayo does have a Minneapolis campus as well, so the future may well offer you the opportunity to relocate to a more urban center, if that is your long-term preference.
posted by Autumnheart at 8:14 PM on October 21, 2019 [5 favorites]
I live in Rochester and work at the clinic. It's a nice town, and far from the conservative bastion that others are painting it as. There's a good mix of old and young people and plenty of folks on all sides of the political equation. The clinic is definitely the main employer/business in town, but there's plenty of other stuff going on. It's not a major metro by any stretch, but it has all of the amenities that you'd expect to find in a city of 100,000, and it's surprisingly diverse for the upper mid-west. There's lots to see and do, particularly if you're outdoorsy and enjoy having four distinct seasons. Good bike paths, pretty decent public transit, and lots of arts/music events. If you want to live closer to the twin cities, there are lots of commuter bus options. Be forewarned that staff parking at the clinic is a nightmare, and you should investigate transit as a part of your decision making process. That being said, Mayo is a great place to be, and Rochester is a genuinely nice town. If you end up coming here, hit me up via MeMail and we can play bar trivia.
posted by cosmicbandito at 2:38 PM on October 22, 2019
posted by cosmicbandito at 2:38 PM on October 22, 2019
I live about an hour East of Rochester and from all my experiences with it it's an okay town. Decent amenities, small enough to be commutable, and nice culture. The winters are cold but tbh they're less trying than a Northeast nonstop slush winter, it's cold but it never gets slushy until spring. You wear a couple layers out and you're fine down to -30°f (which rarely happens)
Politically it's fairly bougie liberal but the area to the east has lots of weirdos, communes and organic farmers. The Congressional district barely went GOP last year but it's also from the Mississippi to South Dakota. MN overall is fairly progressive and decent to its citizens for the US.
Outdoors wise you're very close to the driftless region which is the deep valley and ridge section of the Midwest. Lots of hills, streams, wetland and forests. It's a far cry from the generic flat expanse that Minnesota is depicted as. I personally do a lot of mushroom hunting and hiking without hurting for places to go.
Overall it's fairly affordable and a nice enough place to live.
posted by Ferreous at 5:39 PM on October 22, 2019
Politically it's fairly bougie liberal but the area to the east has lots of weirdos, communes and organic farmers. The Congressional district barely went GOP last year but it's also from the Mississippi to South Dakota. MN overall is fairly progressive and decent to its citizens for the US.
Outdoors wise you're very close to the driftless region which is the deep valley and ridge section of the Midwest. Lots of hills, streams, wetland and forests. It's a far cry from the generic flat expanse that Minnesota is depicted as. I personally do a lot of mushroom hunting and hiking without hurting for places to go.
Overall it's fairly affordable and a nice enough place to live.
posted by Ferreous at 5:39 PM on October 22, 2019
Also this might sound terrible but MN has a huge local bar culture scene. The cold weather culture combined with the northern European immigrants produced a milieu where a bar is less just a place to get hammered but a space to see friends, relax, catch some music and generally hang out. We're not major going out drinking folks but we go to our local bar because our friends go there and we're likely to see someone we know and can chat with. 3 hours on two drinks isn't uncommon, it's the default third space for people around here.
Odds are anywhere you end up will have a local bar that will have within it a group of people who you're symaptico with.
posted by Ferreous at 5:46 PM on October 22, 2019
Odds are anywhere you end up will have a local bar that will have within it a group of people who you're symaptico with.
posted by Ferreous at 5:46 PM on October 22, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
There are few good things about it. Jobs are plentiful, pay is good, and the cost of living is low. Crime is fairly low. Fairly close to the Twin Cities. You will be able to find more leftist, artsy people there but it won't be the norm and you'll have to search for them. I think if I knew my time there would be limited and I would eventually move, I could handle it, but if it was a move that had the possibility of becoming permanent I could not.
posted by scantee at 1:10 PM on October 21, 2019 [1 favorite]