I'm in Michigan and looking into a job in St. Cloud.

Can anyone give me any feedback...HONEST as can be. PM me if you have to.

What's the area like, neighborhood, schools, taxes, unemployment rates?

I don't want to waste my time or the employer's time & money flying there to interview if I won't like the area.

Thanks for any help :beerchug:

Its a decent college town with plenty of restaurants, bars, etc. Cost of living is average- less than the Mpls area and more than where I am an hour north in Brainerd. There has been lots of new development in the area and pretty much everything you would want is there. Good sledding and fishing is about an hour away in Brainerd. There are trails in the area that can be good, but for the most part St. Cloud is pretty open country. For my job, I was suppose to move to St. Cloud, but I talked them into letting me live farther north in Brainerd so I could fish and snowmobile from my door.

It would help if you told us some more about you. What do you like? Organized amature sports? Hunt Fish Boat? St. Cloud is a pretty nifty little city. Good schools, any shopping you need, people are Minnesota Nice, it is a river town, prison close by, what more could you ask for.

YOU WILL LOVE IT!! My question is why would you leave Mi unless the main concern is making more coin I wouldn't blame you one bit if thats the #1 answer to my question. You will make more cash here depending on your occupation. Speaking for the "Mn Mud Duck Council" WE WELCOME YOU! :div20: :beerchug:

Granite City Micro Brew is the best-Worth the move itself- :div20: Nice area-Your close to the Metro and close to the Up North fishing-Lee

Thanks for all the feedback so far. :div20:

What we like to do? Hunting & Fishing, some camping, riding Harley's. We have a 66 Mustang GT that we do cruises and car shows with, but even that has gotten old. One of my 6 year old's biggest concerns is her Karate. She is afraid if we move that "They won't know her kind of Karate". So I am trying to find a school that offers Tang Soo under ITF guidelines established by Grand Master CS Kim.

We currently have no sleds, as I sold EVERYTHING that looked like it went to a sled. Our idea was that we did all you could in Michigan, so we were going to fly to other places to rent & ride for a week or two every year.

Why leave Michigan? Well, Michigan is #1 in unemployment and #1 in home foreclosures. Property values are falling faster than the mercury in January and the main source of income here is the Auto Industry. Anyone pay attention to the national news and how bad the 3 US Automakers are sucking?

People are loosing their jobs everyday, and 3 weeks ago I was a victim also. Pretty much the pay scales are correcting to be competitive with the Asian markets. So instead of raises, most people in the auto biz around here will have to take pay CUTS to keep their job.

My wife has been at a Ford dealer for 16 years. In the last 5 her pay has fallen 50%, the majority of which has been the last 2 years. So she needs to change careers also.

If we don't relocate I may have to go out on my own and open my own business.

Thanks again for the feedback. Even though I am not sledding this year, it's nice to still be able to count on the HCS members for good info.

IF you plan on working in St Cloud you coud easily live in one of the smaller towns near there. I live in Albany which is only 15 minute drive to St Cloud and i have the nice small town atmosphere with trails right trough town and the housing is cheaper and crime rate is alot lower.

If you enjoy college hockey or just hockey in general, St. Cloud State has an entertaining team to watch with great fans/atmosphere.

i moved here from Fargo, ND about a year ago and my only complaint is that I moved farther away from the mountains. Other then that I have no complaints. Good pay for what cost of living is. Also alot of smaller towns around to live in if living in town is not your thing. im in St. Joseph thats about 5 miles west of St. Cloud. I can get ti the trail from my house. Alot of lakes around to fish in and alot of opportunitys to hunt.

The best part about St Cloud is that there is a lot of really nice small towns to live in nearby, the schools are great. Decent shopping, and commuting distance to the twin cities if you are used to a 1.5 hour commute to work (if your wife needs to go there to find a job). My sisters both live around there, one in St Cloud and one in St Martin, both very nice places.

Nice place, and being from Michigan you will be closer to the mountains out west...

Im also in st. joesph and st. cloud has many business opportunities. Since I also am from the Minneapolis area (student) i know that the cost of living is a lot cheaper in st cloud than the minneapolis area. All around good place to live and only about an hour away from the cities.

I dont live in St Cloud buy my parents have a cabin about 20 mi away by Richmond. Nice area lakes. avg fishing pretty populated with resorts and cabins. See alot of harleys around. Ok duck hunting some turkey. Plus prison close by!

What kind of job are you interviewing for? St. Cloud, being a college town is primarily retail and food service as far as employment opportunities. There is really not much in the way of industrial or manufacturing in the area.

With your Rustang, you'll have to check out the big cruise down the "main drag" they have every year, and you'll only be ~1 hour from Back to the 50's!

Only complaint I have about St. Cloud is it can get crowded during rush hour.

I live in Hutchinson, MN...about 60 miles south of Cloud. I have several close friends in St. Cloud though and I have always loved the area. Speaking for your Harley rides, I too have a bike and that is one of my favorite "no map" destinations. There is an area near there (Cold Spring, Richmond, etc.) that has a lot of beautiful backroads with a lot of hills, curves, rivers and lakes. I just ride until I want/need to head home and then look for something familiar to take me towards a road that I know will get me back. That's what riding on two wheels is all about isn't it??? As far as the move, let me know when you are ready to talk mortgage!!!

I am the only one replying that is actually from the STC? Pretty decent city, but im technically from SAuk rapids, across the river from the STC. One of those small towns all around that are great living. The schools are all pretty decent ( Sauk Rapids High School is brand new as of 02') with low crime rate altogether. not bad sledding too if you live in the outer reaches. Seriously, i would recommend the area. Not many drugs, most people are pretty nice, but the traffic is kind of heavy at 7am and 5pm. If you have kids, most out of towners in the high school fit right in. Just tell them to watch out for all those gangsta wannabes. man those guys piss me off. keep in mind all this is from my prospective, a 17 year old high school senior.

oh and st. cloud has ALOT more than retail and food business. The oldest ford dealership in the world, pepsi and coke distribution, fingerhut, frigidare, you name it. much more than just reatil (although we got a lot of that too )

I did live in st cloud but moved to the burbs :banana:

St. Joesph here....pretty damn close

It's irrevelent where I'm from, but I have spent enough time there and in the area to know what its like.

For not being a really huge town the traffic is TERRIBLE!! The holiday traffic last weekend was terrible all day morning till night, 10 minutes to go 6-8 blocks. The street planners have to be retarded, might as well have more one way streets with all of the divided streets where they are not needed. having to make u turns at stoplights or going around a block all of the time just pisses me off, especially when the traffic is light.

Hey, I thought that was a Michigan exclusive We call them Michigan U-turns around here. Why do you have to go east to go west? Stupid system and it really plugs up rush hour.

Sounds like I would fit right in.

dont know your job skills but arctic cat was planing to build atv plant there mabye check there web site and every ones right about the traffic st clouds sucks if your buying a house theres lots of half empty davelopments in the area.

i know for a fact the plant is being built or is built. Clearwater, i think. I heard atv engine assembly, wouldn't be a bad job. Imagine the sweet discounts!

I already posted a topic about the AC plant in st. cloud, its located right off of 94 and opportunity drive you can see it right from the freeway...its already built.....

http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/inde...howtopic=181590

Ok, time to confess...that is where I was going to send my resume to.

I qualify 5x over for the dynamometer position they have open there. I have all the required education, experience and knowledge, plus a bonus of owning and using Cat products for years.

But I think if I am going to relocate, it's going to be somewhere that doesn't THREATEN to snow just to tease you. I'd rather go south and ride the bike year 'round and then take a winter vacation to ride at this point of my life.

So I have an interview this Thursday in Orlando FLA for a job in Charlotte NC I am pretty interested in. Playing with all the NASCAR guys dynos.