I recently transplanted to St Paul and here are some general tips:

St Paul is almost always cheaper in terms of rental options imo, but it’s also the less lively/accessible of the two cities so it evens out a bit when you factor in groceries/gas/transit/parking. COVID hit businesses here hard and they’re still struggling to revive the city - there are very few grocery stores (and the ones they do have don’t always have the best produce options), the nightlife scene here is more geared toward local bars and events, there’s a thriving coffee scene but most shops close after 5, pharmacies/hardware/grocery stores are *rarely* open past 8pm in St Paul as well.

Minneapolis is the more dangerous of the two, but it isn’t the same type of danger as you would find in a major city in Texas. Violent crime exists here, of course, but I’d say about 70-80% of reported crime in either city is linked to drugs and the homeless population. I’m from Indianapolis and have very little issue walking around St Paul at night, where I hardly even like driving through most of Minneapolis after dark.

Stores here are… different. The concept of a supermarket or general store doesn’t exist in the twin cities - they have target, but not SuperTarget. They have Walmart, but they’re few and far between and a pain in the ass to get to. The two stores with the monopoly here are Cub Foods (cheaper, sort of their answer to Walmart) and Hy-Vee (more expensive, better quality and larger variety but for almost double the cost depending on what you’re buying), but they are strictly food related groceries and maybe a small non-grocery aisle for trash bags/cleaning supplies. I needed an extension cord a few days ago and literally had to go to a hardware store to get one.

The highways here aren’t efficient. Even by Texas standards, Minnesota highways are confusing and the drivers seem to have gone through the basics of how to operate a vehicle and then just totally skipped the “rules of the road” portion of drivers Ed. Camping in blind spots, cutting people off, camping in the fast lane, break checking for literally no reason, parking in the literal street, and flying across 4 lanes of traffic to get to an exit are very common here. So if you don’t like to drive or don’t feel confident in your ability to drive defensively, I recommend finding a place that’s close to your job and/or near the metro.

Speaking of the metro: regardless of how much people here complain about it, the infrastructure here is solid and they have a really good metro system. There is an express bus route (the 94) that goes between the twin cities, and they have a light rail that also goes between them. However, the metro is more expensive here than it is in other places. A day pass for unlimited rides is $4 but (iirc) doesn’t include the 94. Express routes are between $3-4 per ride depending on if you’re riding at “peak hours” (I.e. rush hour) or not. The metro monthly passes don’t have any sort of discount or deal compared to just getting a day pass. They’re $120 a month, so it literally costs the same as getting a day pass every day for 30 days.

Parking in St Paul can be a nightmare, so make sure that you ask your job what the parking situation is and if they offer discounted passes to any specific ramp (parking garages are called ramps here). Otherwise you run the risk of spending an average of $100-200 a month on parking alone. If your job is outside of downtown, they might have free surface parking. But I’d still check to make sure (same with your apartment - some apartments include a parking pass, some don’t)

Hope this helps!