Minnesota nice is a cultural stereotype applied to the behavior of people from the Midwest, implying residents are unusually courteous, reserved, mild-mannered and passive-aggressive. The phrase also implies polite friendliness, an aversion to open confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a direct fuss or stand out, apparent emotional restraint, and self-deprecation.

Playwright and corporate communications consultant Syl Jones suggested that Minnesota nice is not so much about being "nice" but is more about keeping up appearances, maintaining the social order, and keeping people (including non-natives of the state) in their place. He relates these social norms to the literary work of Danish-Norwegian novelist Aksel Sandemose, the fictional Law of Jante, and more generally, Scandinavian culture. Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion discusses "Wobegonics", the supposed language of Minnesotans, which includes "no confrontational verbs or statements of strong personal preference".

I'm literally ashamed to be a native here, life really does suck there if you're not in the cult.

When you go to school with them (at least where I live), they'll all have already known each other through church, family connections, or doing cute little sports together since they were like 2. So, when you try to make friends with them, they won't take you seriously unless you act exactly like they do. Like he said, it's a literal cult. If you don't do every little thing with them, if you don't show up to every social gathering, they will block you out. Their liberalism is also so fake. They act as though they actually believe in "everyone deserves equality," and then they'll proceed to only talk to their clique from high school. We're a state of Karens, like everybody's mom is a teacher and their dad was probably the school football coach or something. Even if you make friends with any of these people, they are going to be passive aggressive and rude to you no matter what. So.. what is even the point of living there.. Seriously get out while you can.


However, the good 10% that aren't apart of the Minnesota cult and live there are actually pretty cool people... The difficulty is finding them.

Just move to New York or something, sure they're all assholes, but at least they aren't fake as heck.

I live in Minnesota(right in the heart of Minneapolis) and have lived here almost my whole life. I don’t understand why people like it here and why people who were raised here stay and never consider leaving. I’m on my way out and looking towards San Diego, Washington DC, or Dallas.

I am a black female so this is from a black females perspective - which is not a perspective you will hear very often when it comes to this state since it is only 6% black.

1. First of all, most people here are not nice at all. I don’t know how this stereotype that Minnesotans are nice came to be a thing but we all see it as a running joke. The only people who say this are people who don’t actually live here because its just not true. Most people here are very snobbish and passive aggressive. If you’re moving here from another state thinking you will make friends easily - good luck 😂 most of the people here have lived here their whole lives and already have their circle of friends who are the same people they’ve known since middle school. They never seem to want to venture outside of their friend group. The social scene is just not here, especially if you are a person of color who wants to make friends who are diverse, friends of all backgrounds whether black, white, Hispanic, asian....The diversity is just not here and everyone stays to themselves and sticks to what they know.

2. The restaurant scene here is mediocre. I travel a lot so I can say this with confidence. We have a few decent steakhouses but you’re going to come across the same stuff here over and over. Lots of poorly executed fake exotic food with little to no seasoning. People here are terrified of a little spice. One good thing I’ll say is that If you like beer you’ll enjoy our breweries. I like indeed and Sisyphus, even though everyone raves about Surly.That’s about it though.

3. The weather is horrible most of the time. Yeah summer is nice but it is so short if you blinked you’d miss it. Most of the time it’s cold as all hell here or gloomy and depressing. A lot of people here deal with seasonal depression because of how dark it gets in the fall and winter. It starts getting dark around 5 o clock, so if you work a typical office job you dont see much daylight at all besides when you go outside to go grab lunch. Still, most people won’t bother to go outside at all because a lot of the buildings have tunnels, so you can avoid the freezing cold and snow.

4. The prices of rent in safe areas is surging with no end in sight. Another thing you’ll hear Minnesota natives say is that it is much cheaper to buy a house and pay that mortgage than pay the insane rental prices in the twin cities. However, for people who are not yet to ready to buy a house, you’ll have to sacrifice something. I notice people that don’t own a home and are renting either have a roommate, a significant other they’re splitting the rent with, they decided to sell their car to save money to pay said rent and just rely on public transportation(which sucks in the colder months), or they live out in the suburbs where it’s a bit cheaper but the commute to work everyday is trash and could possibly suck an extra 2 hours out of their day. Not to mention the fact that when it’s snowing and freezing you’ll have to go outside in the mornings and warm your car up/clean all the snow off your windshields if you don’t have underground parking where you live(which costs an arm and a leg because they know lots of people want it). You may also have to dig your wheels out of the snow if you don’t have AWD.
You will notice there are not actually that many single people who are renting alone and there’s a reason for it. It’s just not attainable for most people here.

5. The person who made this video is right about people’s attitudes of superiority here. Minnesotans think they are just better than people in other states and I don’t get why. Youll hear people here talk a lot of crap about pretty much anywhere but here. “The south sucks, our transportation system is so much better than anything in the south! The east coast is full of mean people! The west coast is too expensive!” A lot of people here honestly think people in the south are less intelligent and are missing out on something(I’m not sure what exactly) by not moving here. People who pack up to move to the south are viewed as kind of insane.


6. People here cannot dress. you will mostly see a sea of north face, bean or Chelsea boots, uggs, leggings, and whatever is current season at H&M😂 You will see lots of people all wearing the same H&M sweater. If you are the kind of person who any sense of style at all you will have people asking you where you are going or why you are so dressed up, even if you’re not that dressed up at all. If you work in a casual office and like to dress nice, people will think you are interviewing somewhere else or something. It’s almost suspicious when you dress nice here 😂

7. The job market is weird. On one hand I keep seeing Minneapolis being named as one of the places with the strongest job markets, but yet the restaurants here are full of people with bachelors degrees and masters degrees that should land them a job somewhere(marketing, finance, even comp sci) who cannot find a job. I personally know people who are late 20s still living at home because their job is not paying them enough. This is the norm for a lot of people here. The jobs here do not pay you wages that account for the cost of living. Usually you are paid below the market rate and are expected to “prove” you are worth the livable salary before you get that salary. This is just how companies here get away with paying people crappy wages until they get sick of it and leave, then they replace them and repeat the cycle.

This was a long post but I genuinely just want to help somebody, anybody who will benefit from this comment. Nobody is telling people the truth about living here, it is all bs about “minnesota nice”, “pumpkin spiced lattes”, and “mall of America”. If you have other options please choose the other option. Minnesota is very overrated, you are not missing out on anything by not moving here.

I will say that the only reason I can see someone genuinely enjoying being a resident here is if they are Middle Aged with a family, well established with great connections here so they don’t have to worry about COL, they don’t mind that the weather is crappy most of the time, and they just want to raise their kids somewhere quiet and boring with very little diversity. That’s fine if that’s what you want btw, but If you don’t fit that category you should look elsewhere.

Also do not move here with no job and think you’ll just find one once you get here. This is not the place to try to pull that off, you will end up homeless out in the cold.

If anyone has any questions, leave me a reply and I will give you an honest answer, not the fluffy nonsense people spout. For some people that are from here, it is like they have a fear of leaving Minnesota and genuinely believe this is the best place in the country to live. For others, its like it never crosses their mind that they have the option to move somewhere better. People here have tunnel vision. They eat, sleep, and breathe Minnesota. They go to high school, go to college, get their office job, rarely travel, and never leave.

All these complaints about "liberal" Minnesota. I was told the Minneapolis cops were racist when I moved there in - 1978! If you ever talked to a POC you would know the high school graduation rate for black students is the same as Pensacola Florida, which is abysmal. The UN did a report that called out the state for being incredibly racist. I was shunned at work for being an unmarried woman with no children. I worked with a handful of people of color and one openly gay person over 36 years, at most of the big employers. Even after a videotaped murder committed by a police office, people are whining about crime? Almost the entire city of St. Paul and the Phillips neighborhood and all of North Minneapolis are crime ridden. They are also slums. The Metropolitan Council uses a seven word euphemism (classic Minnesota bs) but several years ago they did a report on the slums. Not too surprisingly slums breed crime, regardless of race, creed, color and religion. Meannesota is the direct descendent of the Scandinavian peasantry who settled the state in the 1800s. They were clannish, judgemental, deeply suspicious of outsiders, puritanical about sex and indifferent to art, education and culture. You mix that with American capitalism and you get present day Minnesota.