The Mall of America is in Bloomington, which is the largest suburb (or second largest, depending on how you classify Saint Paul), out by the airport. The suburbs by the airport (Bloomington, Burnsville, Richfield, Apple Valley and Eagan are the major ones) get a ton of airport noise (and even ones not as close, like Mendota Heights, were I grew up, can be on the flight path and get a ton of noise).
The most urban suburbs are those inner ring, like Bloomington and Brooklyn Park. The ritzy suburbs are also oddly closer to the downtowns than you would think, Edina and Eden Prairie as Minneapolis suburbs (southwest), and Shoreview and North Oaks as Saint Paul suburbs (northeast).
If you're looking for IT, look at Eden Prairie. There was a ton of IS job expansion out there during the late 1990s; I remember being astonished at all the tech stuff out there when I interviewed for Digital River. It's not as ritzy as Edina (Every Day I Need Attention in local lingo), and you're not that far from downtown. Burnsville and Apple Valle are other nice choices, at least for living purposes, a little more urban in Burnsville; I don't know about the tech situation out there. Apple Valley High had a very good rep for education, so I would assume the school system there is good. But then, even Saint Paul Central, a kind of a tough school, has a vaunted foreign language department. Some of the eastern suburbs, like Woodbury and Cottage Grove/Saint Paul Park, have good schools. I'm at that age where I've been out of school for awhile but I don't have kids yet myself, so I'm not much of an authority.
Access to highways is not a huge deal. I94 runs straight through the middle, and a branch of it, 694 (north)/494 (south) circle the town. Plus I35 splits and one split runs through Minneapolis, the other through Saint Paul. All of the suburbs I mentioned above have good highway access, save North Oaks. Just off the top of my head, if that's a criterium, add Plymouth, Fridley and Roseville to the list.
One other important thing to know -- this town goes to sleep early, especially Saint Paul. Downtown Saint Paul is a ghost town by 7pm. It nighttime activity is important for you, stay on the west side of the river. Actually, it's better here in Minneapolis for just about everything, but some Saint Paulites are in denial about that.
There is an orchestra -- two, I think. There's actually quite a bit of higher culture in downtown Saint Paul, though the plays all come to Minneapolis. There isn't that much crime -- there's more in the downtown areas, of course -- though Minneapolis did gain a bad name a few years ago when a bunch of drug dealers killed each other and some husbands killed their wives and everyone thought there was a crime spree. The Minneapolis police department has a bit of a national goonish reputation, not wholly without merit. The economy is about as good here as it is elsewhere, though there is always a little more money here.
As for the gaming scene, I would have trouble getting a group together at the University of Minnesota. French Resistance cells isn't a bad analogy. You need to hang out at a gaming store (Phoenix Games in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, Dreamhaven in Dinkytown by the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus, The Source in Falcon Heights). The big con is Minicon, around Easter time; never been myself, I know some folks I'd like to avoid who go all the time. Groups actually play in Phoenix and The Source (I'm in Phoenix every Saturday afternoon). You can find a pretty good selection of gaming material at the various Shinder's newstands, mixed in with the newspapers, magazines, comics and porn.
The apartment rents aren't rising much anymore, after the Hollman decree was implemented. My rent has stayed at about $600 for a couple of years, and I live in Uptown.
A note about Target -- I temped at Target Plaza North (10th Street South and Nicollet Mall) for about six months. When I was there, the pay wasn't great (I was a clerical temp after all), but the place was casual. Best employee cafeteria I've ever tried, and if no one cared, you could either go shopping on Nicollet Mall or sleep on a cot in the first aid room. It's by many good places to eat, the best record store in the cities (Let It Be Records) and the Scientology cult.
One final thought -- is it just me, or does every driver in the cities blow through yellow and fresh red lights? I'm a bus rider, and even the bus drivers do that. I don't remember seeing that happen so much when I was 16 and learning to drive. It's especially irritating around here because everyone jaywalks. What gives?
