It's not a low COL state at all. Obviously below the big coast states and such but no idea what cheapness you are referring to. Looking at a Forbes list it's 18th in highest COL. Maybe you are just thinking about the no sales tax on clothes?
Rollerblades were invented Here so I guess relatively it's bigger, but I wouldn't call it really big lol.
Oh and it's like 11 thousand lakes. :)
I haven't been there in a short while, but the other day one of my friends from there was complaining about $3.15/gal gas. Admittedly I haven't traveled a lot around the Midwest, but that's insane. I'm dealing with around $6 a gallon here.
I do live in California but I've traveled a lot to Nevada and Utah lately and even comparing prices in those places it still feels absolutely like Minnesota is life on 'easy mode.'
I know that's just two other states but I'd expect things to be cheap in say Utah, but comparatively it's not when discussing Minnesota