Minnesota

Evaluating Minnesota as a relocation target starts with the statewide BEA Regional Price Parity of 98.6 - where 100 is the national average, so every point above or below translates to percent-level cost of living difference. Housing costs in Minnesota index at 91.3, goods at 100.5, and services at 90.8. HUD Fair Market Rents averaged across Minnesota counties put a 2-bedroom at $1,124/month, the figure HUD uses to cap Section 8 voucher payments, so it reflects real submarket rents rather than listings bias.

On the income side, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a statewide median salary of $79,900 with a mean of $82,014 across 2,930,390 tracked jobs. For safety context, FBI UCR data shows a violent crime rate of 259 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 1625 per 100K. These state-level reads let you benchmark Minnesota against both your origin state and national medians before zooming into specific metros.

Family and education costs often decide a move. Department of Labor data for Minnesota shows center-based infant care running $11,722/year, preschool at $9,850/year, and toddler care at $10,737/year. Minnesota contains 5 metropolitan statistical areas in our dataset - Duluth, Mankato, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington and more - each with its own rent, wage and crime profile that can diverge sharply from the statewide average. The composite Life Score of 53.3/100 (D) folds all seven federal sources into one number for quick comparison.