Minneapolis Apartments for Rent

Minneapolis is known as a highly livable city, with great access to nature. The city sits on the banks of the Mississippi and the region is dotted with green spaces, lakes, and parks and 34 miles of bike lanes. In the winter, there’s nearby cross country skiing, pond hockey, and ice skating, in summer, there’s biking and boating and miles of great walking trails. The city is surrounded by the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway, a connecting series of parks and lakes that show off the city’s natural beauty.

The “Twin Cities” of Minneapolis and St. Paul make up Minnesota’s largest metropolitan area. Target, Best Buy, and Land o’Lakes (it’s Minnesota, there’s dairy!) have their corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is home to the Vikings football team, the Minnesota Twins baseball team, and the Minnesota Wild hockey franchise.

Minneapolis METRO runs a network of buses, light rail, and commuter rail. The Northstar commuter line runs from Big Lake into downtown Minneapolis and takes about an hour. The Blue Line runs south to the Mall of America and connects to the airport.

Extensive bus service includes a downtown free ride zone -- most places in the city are no more than a ten minute walk from the bus – and the buses are kitted out with bike racks so you can take your bike with you for a bike/bus commute.

If you choose to live and work in downtown Minneapolis, you can avoid the bitter cold of the Minnesota winters or high heat of muggy summers by walking between buildings using the Minneapolis Skyway. Come the milder weather, you’ll want to go outside to take advantage of the extensive biking and walking paths that crisscross the city. Downtown West ranks very high for walkability. Most of the apartments or condos are in high rise buildings. There are some very cool new buildings that have from studio to three bedroom units for rent, and there are some smaller units in renovated brick buildings. You may also find some super chic downtown loft spaces with big windows and great views of the river.

The North Loop used to be the warehouse district, but that’s been changed by gentrification. There are lots of stylish new condos and loft style apartments here with gourmet style kitchen kitted out with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. Some of those old warehouses have been converted into open floor plan apartments with big windows. There’s super hip shopping here, it’s a good place for foodies, and it’s home to Target Field where the Minnesota Twins play their home games.

Prospect Park, to the south of the University also has student apartments and single family homes. Prospect Park is embracing the urban village concept, developing a community that makes walkability and access to things like shopping, transit, and street life a priority. There are some large apartment blocks that have from studio to two bedroom apartments, some of them have gyms, common areas, indoor bike storage, and underground parking. There are also some nice single family homes here, places with detached garages, big gardens, and still with easy access to transit.

A few Minneapolis suburbs ranked as CNN Money’s Best Small Towns – Chanhassen for it’s great outdoors activities, Apple Valley for affordability, and Savage for its walkable downtown area. Eden Prairie has also received recognition as a great place to live outside Minneapolis.