Tech salaries in Minneapolis and the surrounding area aren't terrible if you're reasonably qualified and do some digging- think low $100k and up. The rents seem absurd to me- $1300 for a one bedroom apartment? - but that's because I grew up in a town where a two bedroom apartment above a quiet store would cost $450 a month, tops.

$1300 for a one bedroom apartment? I'm paying $1360 for a two bedroom and I'm in the heart of Uptown in a nice apartment.

Yeah, I think it was near the twins stadium, and was brand new, so it was probably inflated a bit compared to what you would get if you looked around.

Regardless, I now have a 2k mortgage for multiple acres, waterfront, and no congestion, city noise, smells or lights. It's bliss if you don't mind the occasional snake or bear.

"The rents seem absurd to me- $1300 for a one bedroom apartment?"

I think these numbers are unduly skewed by the relatively very large build-out of condo buildings that has occurred in Minneapolis in the past 4-5 years.

Prior to 2005 (or so) Minneapolis was a very, very white-flighted downtown area with only a very few condo buildings extant. The notion of living in downtown minneapolis, to most metro area residents, was a weird and wild one.

So now, there is a huge influx of supply but it is all made up of "luxury" units that I believe are going online, in the market, with very optimistic rent numbers. I believe those newly online rental units are skewing the number upwards...

I think that build out has been going on since at least 2004, at least around the University. Plenty of luxury student apartments around there with even more inflated prices for the value.

Even in the suburbs, sketchy one bedrooms were 900-1000 last I had looked, though I was limited in options because I had a small dog. I ended up going way out to savage to get one for 700 / month back in 2010

I mean, just look at the North Loop. When I worked there in 2000 there were no condos at all, just drug dealers and prostitutes on corners.

Now they can't build condos there fast enough, and the rent on them is insane.

Expand that to the entire Twin Cities area and prices fall even more. I bought a two bedroom condo in a suburb 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis for $80k last year. When I was renting a three bedroom two bathroom house house in a nice area of South Minneapolis was $1500 a month. And developer salaries here are pretty good. Not Bay Area levels, obviously, but mid-level developers should be making over $100k in base salary.

What would the equivalent house have cost you?

I live in a nice but not upscale neighborhood in South Minneapolis (Longfellow, just north of Minnehaha Park, a few blocks from the famed Minnehaha Falls from Song of Hiawatha). My block is basically 100 year old bungalows in the 1200-1800sqf range, mostly three bedroom (two main floor plus a finished attic). The house next door to mine and the house next to it have sold in the $325k range in the past year. They're both pretty nice - a couple more sold farther down the block that were a little smaller and not as sweet, for around $300k.

fwiw, one of the new neighbors came from the East Bay area, and they were boggled at being able to get a beautiful 3br in a great neighborhood for that price.

Just to throw some anecdotal data on the pile - when I was looking for an apartment in Minneapolis (South MPLS and ~two years ago) I was able to find decent one-bedrooms for around $1000 and currently rent a two bedroom in a triplex for $1100.

Ah yes I suppose it's important that I was looking at places that are in supposedly very desirable neighborhoods - North Loop, Northeast, Uptown, etc. If you go into S Minneapolis (which is also a nice place to live) you can find much cheaper apartments.