There are a lot of reasons, actually. But the primary one is economic. The state has become very expensive to live in and getting more expensive all the time, with very high taxes being a primary reason. But lack of growth in real, after inflation, personal income also explains the increased financial stress for Minnesotans. From 2022 to 2023, real person income in the state actually declinedc by .6%, the third worst performance among all states. you can guess which states generally had higher personal income rises and which ones were lower. One way of measuring affordability is by purchasing price comparisions. In other words, how much money does it take to buy the same amount of goods or services in different states. The higher the price parity, the less affordable the state. Minnesota ranks 20th on this list. So declining personal income and relatively high prices; that certainly makes for a good environment for families, as Little Timmy always tells us Minnesota has. (BEA Data)
