How Long Does It Take To Be Considered Minnesotan

You can get a Minnesota driver's license, slap Minnesota plates on your car, and pay Minnesota taxes, but is that enough? How many years do you actually have to live here before you can proudly consider yourself a Minnesotan?

How Long Does It Take to Become a Minnesota Resident?

When you're born in a certain country, like the U.S., you're automatically a citizen of that country. If you want to legally reside in another country, you then need to go through the process of becoming a citizen of that country, right?

Things become a little more murky when you're born in one state and then move to another. For most of us, becoming a resident of a new state feels official when you get a new driver's license or ID. Or when you get new license plates for your vehicles in your new state. Or when you file your income taxes in your new state for the first time.

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Does Moving to Minnesota Make You a Minnesotan?

And, yes, those things *DO* legally make you a resident of your new state. But here in the North Star State, does doing those things actually make you an actual 'Minnesotan'? Maybe not.

Not to get too political, but some have pointed out that Michele Tafoya, who's running as a Republican for Minnesota's open U.S. Senate seat, isn't actually a true 'Minnesotan' because she was born and raised in California. Despite the fact that she has lived in Minnesota for nearly 32 years and has raised her family here, some say it doesn't overcome the fact that she isn't a native Minnesotan.

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Similarly, others have pointed out that current Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, also isn't a 'Minnesotan' because he was born and raised in Nebraska. That's despite also having lived in the North Star State for nearly 30 years and having represented Minnesota in Congress before being elected governor.

So, if you live in Minnesota but weren't born in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, how long do you have to live here before you can consider yourself a true, living, breathing, bona fide Minnesotan?

Do You Have to Be Born in Minnesota to Be a Minnesotan?

Or do you need to be born in Minnesota to consider yourself a Minnesotan? Let me state for the record that I'm a reformed Wisconsinite. Full disclosure here: Yes, I was born over in America's Dairyland, I went to college there (shout out to UW-Eau Claire!), and it's where I lived my entire life until I met the love of my life and moved to the North Star State back in 2012.

However, seeing as I've lived here now for nearly 15 years, I like to consider myself a fully naturalized Minnesotan. I have a Minnesota driver's license, Minnesota license plates on my SUV, and pay taxes in Minnesota-- boy, do I! And I've come to realize that I love it here in Minnesota-- I really do. There are many aspects of life here in the Gopher State that can't be beaten anywhere-- including my home state of Wisconsin.

But seeing as I am a native Wisconsinite, can I still consider myself a 'Minnesotan'? And if not, just how long do you have to live here before you CAN consider yourself a Minnesotan?

During my years living behind the Cheddar Curtain over in the Badger State, I don't recall thinking that anyone who moved to Wisconsin wasn't an actual 'Wisconsinite' just because they weren't born there.

Is this just a Minnesota thing? What say you... What makes you a 'Minnesotan'?