2025-12-15 06:50:31
MOVE TO MINNESOTA
Minnesota blends big-city benefits, unmatched natural beauty and a lifetime of opportunities — all wrapped in one of the happiest, healthiest states around.
Consistently ranked among the happiest, healthiest and most prosperous states, the Star of the North offers unmatched access to opportunity. It’s home to breathtaking nature, world-class cities, plus a diverse economy with global headquarters and startups that survive. Minnesotans also enjoy one of the highest rates of civic engagement in the country, with leading rates of voting and volunteerism.
Affordability is a major draw in the land of 10,000 lakes. Minneapolis–St. Paul offers a high quality of life at a lower cost than most major metros. The state focuses on the future — investing in infrastructure, expanding homeownership programs, and building smart, sustainable communities.
Minnesota’s economy thrives on diversity, innovation and education — from globally respected research institutions to a startup scene attracting venture capital from around the world. Whether in healthcare, tech, manufacturing or agriculture, Minnesotans are inventing tomorrow, today.
And yes, winters are part of the package — we love them. With snowy landscapes and a culture that embraces the cold, winter becomes a season of celebration. Ice fishing, downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, winter hikes and iconic festivals like the Saint Paul Winter Carnival make it a time to look forward to.
For new Minnesotans Kat and her husband, Josh (pictured kayaking on Medicine Lake above), Minnesota gave them job opportunities, access to the outdoors and time to enjoy it — “Moving to Minnesota opened up a lot of doors for us. We got to purchase a house last year. We got to not work weekends, which we’ve never done in our entire lives. That’s something that we always wanted.
Learn more about life in Minnesota at ExploreMinnesota.com/live
Molly Yeh’s Favorite Minnesota Spots to Eat, Shop & Explore
By Andrew Parks
When it came time for a life change, hit Food Network host Molly Yeh knew the opportunity and quality of life in Minnesota were precisely what she was seeking.
“One of the things that got me into food was sitting at the back of the orchestra, waiting a really long time for my one cymbal note,” says Molly Yeh, a Juilliard-trained musician. “It made me very antsy. And since I needed something creative to fill that time, I started thinking about food.”
That creative spark took her from Juilliard to Girl Meets Farm, bestselling cookbooks and Bernie’s—her family-inspired cafe in East Grand Forks, Minn. “Living here has been as inspiring and energizing as I’d dreamt it would be.”
On local East Grand Forks eats, she says, “The Blue Moose has a walleye sandwich I really like. And Mike’s Pizza is thin, crispy, and cut into little squares…Since the slices are so small, you can eat more of them.”
For grocery runs, she swears by Hugo’s: “They have a pretty extensive selection of… local specialties like lefse, lutefisk, Swedish pearl sugar. Before I moved here, I had to order that online.”
Each summer, her family heads to Bemidji. “Our favorite trail is the bog walk…It’s perfect for little kids like ours. There are some great places we always return to, like the Minnesota Nice Cafe — the first place I had wild rice pancakes [and] a hot dog stand called Lucky Dogs. It’s so good.”
She also loves Northern Waters Smokehaus in Duluth (“some of the best smoked fish I’ve ever had”) and Hai Hai in Minneapolis. “I dream about their crispy rice salad. I’m a when-in- Rome type of person—I love leaning into what each place does best.”
Read Molly’s full story at ExploreMinnesota.com/yeh
©Explore Minnesota. View All Articles.