Minnesota Town Tops List of Places ‘People Actually Want To Live’

This Minnesota town is being called the #1 “Affordable Small Town Where You’d Actually Want To Live”.

Nearly 50% of people surveyed said given the choice they would prefer to live in a small town.

The folks at Realtor.com came up with a list of Top 10 Affordable Small Towns Where You’d Actually Want To Live.

When they put the list together they considered U.S. metros with a population under 50,000, then factored in affordability metrics like median home list prices, year-over-year list price change, and ownership costs as a percentage of income.

Topping the list of 10 Affordable Small Towns Where You’d Actually Want To Live is the small Minnesota town of New Ulm.

New Ulm is a town of around 14,000 in Southern Minnesota. It is the home to Schell's Brewery and Herman The German.

Hermann The German is a 102-foot monument that depicts an ancient hero whose army liberated Germany from Roman rule in 9 A.D.

There is a lot of history in the City of New Ulm.

For example, the Kiesling House is one of three downtown New Ulm buildings that survived the Dakota War of 1862.

The Dakota War of 1862 was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of eastern Dakota or Santee Sioux Indians.

Tensions between U.S. Indian agents and the various tribes because the Indians were being forced into reservations and encouraged to become farmers.

There was a crop failure in 1861 that led to starvation and hardships for the native Americans.

Rather than supplying food to the Indians like the agents were supposed to do they cheated them and did not give them the much-needed food.

By the end of the war, 358 settlers had been killed along with 77 soldiers and 29 volunteer militia. No one knows how many Dakota-Indian casualties there were.

During the Dakota War of 1862 75% of the buildings in New Ulm were burned down.

Schell's Brewery in New Ulm, founded in 1860, was also spared from burning and destruction.

The story is the old man August Schell was kind to the Dakota Indians and even supplied them with some of his brews.

Here is the full list of the "Top 10 Affordable Small Towns Where You’d Actually Want To Live".

1. New Ulm, Minnesota
2. Lexington, NE
3. Houghton, MI
4. Spencer, IA
5. Wahpeton, ND
6. Wapakoneta, OH
7. Los Alamos, NM
8. Lincoln, IL
9. Maryville, MO
10. Seneca Falls, NY