Just outside of Madison (Stoughton, Verona: apartment complexes, rent, low crime)

[wdrice]

Is there a place just outside of Madison, that has a low crime rate and rent for around $550 and is liking living in the country. I work in retail, CompUSA, and I do not make much money and I am transfering to Madison in March. Just as long it is not to far from the Madison store. I like country life and would like to get a place in the country and work in Madison CompUSA. I am single with no kids.

[Chelito23]

That amount of rent is probably the lowest you could possibly find in the Madison area. If you check on some of the apartment locator websites, and perform a search of Madison and surrounding communities, there are not many decent places under $600. With that said, I think any small town within 30 miles of Madison would have something up your ally. Probably not the traditional apartment complexes, but some sort of arrangement where you rent a room or apartment above a store in the towns. I would suggest driving around in different towns to find one you like, and then ask around about that kind of information from locals. Word of mouth and local papers work well, but check craigslist too. I know a lot of people who work in retail and live 20 to 30 minutes out of Madison where the cost of living is much cheaper...they live in the small towns, so the countryside might be a 5 minute walk away. Some towns that I think would have more apartment options for you would be New Glarus, Mount Horeb, Stoughton, Cross Plains...but it all depends where in Madison the CompUSA is...if it's on the west side, any of those communities would work well. Good luck and welcome to the land of Culver's, which puts Sonic to shame! haha

[beany]

If you're going to be working for the CompUSA on/off Junction Rd (that'd be the west side of Madison) then you may want to also consider Verona, WI which is more/less just down the road (less than 10 miles away). From this CompUSA - the one in Prairie Town Center - its approximately 20-25 miles to New Glarus or Mount Horeb, maybe a little more for Stoughton. I'm not yet familiar with Stoughton but Mt Horeb & New Glarus are both very wonderful small town European type places! Verona is also quite nice + its been rated the fastest growing community in this area.

One thing I have noticed since moving to Wisconsin last year is that there is a very real & distinct difference between the East & West sides of Madison - which is really a rather large, spread out city. The East side seems to me to be a little older, with homes being more reasonably priced then on the West side. People are more common folk, college kids renting homes or artistic types. The West side seems to be on the newer side & a little more expensive. Its also a little more upscale with more educated white collar type people. An outlying community (any of the above mentioned) is still within easy reach of downtown minus the rivalry of the East/West folk & they're ever growing taxes.