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Minneapolis Residents: "Early" to Own Homes
As a homeowning 35-year-old myself, I've long crowed to friends on the coasts about the financial life hack that is "moving to a nice Midwest city and buying a house there." But you don't have to take my word for it! Take the word of Vince Dixon at the New York Times, who recently dug into the data (gift link) to determine where folks are most likely to own in their 30s.
"Nationally, the majority of 35 to 44 year olds own homes," Dixon writes, "but in some expensive cities that’s not the case." In Los Angeles, for example, just 39% of people in that age group own their homes, and figures are similarly bleak for New York (45%), urban Honolulu (46%), and San Francisco (47%).
Things take a turn if you move inland: 78% of 35 to 44 year olds own in Ogden, Utah; 76% own in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Provo, Utah; and 74% own in Des Moines. Minneapolis is right up there at No. 5, with a 73% ownership rate among folks in their mid-30s to mid-40s.
But let's not let our glasses get too rosy here: We have a housing affordability crisis in this country, with today's young adults struggling to buy homes more than previous generations. Around this time last year, the NYT reported that first-time homebuyers are older than ever, with the median age hitting an all-time high of 40. And earlier this month the Star Tribune's Jim Buchta painted a similarly bleak picture (gift link) locally.
Social Feeds Are Consuming Senior Citizens
Earlier this week, I read Jessica Lucas's Intelligencer report on screen-addicted seniors and their slop-filled feeds (gift link) with equal parts fascination and horror. Lucas sat down with a number of adult children of senior citizens who find themselves in the position of trying to curate their parents' feeds, or prevent them for falling for AI scams, or remind them that their hobbies exist as they spend countless hours scrolling TikTok or Facebook. Many feel helpless as they watch their loved ones become increasingly phone-addicted—and less and less capable of handling the rest of their personal lives, enjoying offline activities, or keeping track of their finances in the process.
I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here's the upshot, if you want a summary:
Americans over 60 now spend more than half their leisure hours in front of screens. But unlike millennials and most Gen-Xers, who have spent years navigating engagement bait, stealth marketing, and AI slop — and have developed a working instinct for what to trust — older adults tend to have little idea of what they’re looking at. This susceptibility is creating an entirely new type of responsibility for the adult children of these suddenly very online parents, who flock to Reddit to ask things like, How do I stop my dad from watching fake Bruce Lee AI slop? Is it possible to curate a feed for my anxious, elderly mother? and How can I stop my aging parents from believing fake news? “My mom spends countless hours on her iPad. Won’t even get out of bed until 11AM. By that time, her brain is so fried that she can barely comprehend or function,” one user writes. “Advice needed: Parent with early stage neurodegenerative disease worsening with AI YouTube,” says another. “YouTube AI ‘Doctor’ is telling my dad to skip his blood pressure medicine and my dad is thrilled!”
And as for a local angle? Lucas interviews University of Minnesota gerontologist Marti DeLiema, who likens the process of trying to get your folks off their phones to that of convincing them to give up driving in their older years. “Driving is part of your identity. It’s like a mark of freedom and independence,” she says, adding that being online is “also a source of your social connection.”
Cougar Comeback
Oooo baby, a piece of nature writing that gets the creative-nonfiction, fancy-layout treatment in the Star Tribune? You know I'm clickin', and that's doubly true when the subject matter is the unexpected return of the cougar to Minnesota. (NO HORNY OLD LADY JOKES; THIS IS SERIOUS!)
This March, Voyageurs Wolf Project captured footage near Kabetogama in the far north of a female cougar and her three cubs—the first mountain lions born in the state in over 100 years. For the Strib (gift link), Greg Stanley writes about what the return of breeding cougars means, speaking with cougar experts and others who study big cats about the cougar's eastward push. Their return may have been highly unlikely, but experts tell Stanley that the breeding female is likely here to stay—and the father of those cubs has apparently decided to stick around. That could mean more babies, as soon as next spring.
“It’s easy to be pessimistic, but wildlife is resilient if you give it a chance,” says John Erb, large carnivore expert for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Do basic things right, give it time, good things can happen.”
Check Out This Awesome Manhole Cover
Ahem, we're supposed to call them maintenance holes now. Still, loved seeing this local cover doing numbers in the "Mildly Interesting" subreddit:
That is mildly interesting! And while the comments on that post have largely devolved into a discussion about what kind of freak calls hot dogs "hots" (the poster is apparently from Rochester, New York), it seems the cover in question is located on Sixth Street near Nicollet Mall, if a recent post in the Facebook group Manhole Covers Around the World is to be believed.
...Do I need to join the Manhole Covers Around the World Facebook group??
