cost of living in Madison (east side) (Waupun, Monona: property taxes, housing)

[m42martin]

My wife and I are actively seeking employment in Madison, and hope to end up living on the east side.

We would really appreciate some thoughts and wisdom on cost of living in that area.

We have no idea what type income is necessary.

Thank you !!

[Megan1967]

It really depends on where you want to live on the East side. Generally it is less expensive, but the trendier areas are just as pricey as the Westside. If you are looking at Jennifer/Willy Street, anything by the lake, Atwood/Schenk, or Maple Bluff neighborhoods expect to pay a lot for housing. Of course "a lot" is relative.

Since this is an anonymous forum and more info makes it easier to help could you give us an idea of what you think you might be making and what you are looking for lifestyle wise?

[MidwesternBookWorm]

And if you'd rather not divulge as much information as Megan suggests, try telling us where you're moving from and what kind of cost of living you experience there. That would give us the ability to do a bit of compare-and-contrast between what you have now and what you can expect in Madison.

If you're coming here from San Francisco or New York City, Madison will seem like a bargain to you, at least until you discover that wages are proportionally smaller than they are on the coasts, too. If you're coming from some of the more rural or less prosperous areas of the country, Madison may seem outrageous to you. It all depends on your perspective.

My family moved to Madison's east side from a deeply economically challenged area in South Texas in 1999, and we saw a significant increase in our cost of living. The majority of the increase was in the cost of housing: we sold a 4-bedroom 1,800 foot two-story house on a huge corner lot in Texas for about $60K, which was top of the market for that area, and bought a 2-bedroom 1,200 foot bungalo for about twice that much in Madison. And that was nearly a decade ago.

That said, we found other costs to be significantly lower. Both home and car insurance are cheaper here than in the Rio Grande Valley. Milk and eggs are less expensive here, as is good beer; on the other hand, seafood of any kind is extremely expensive here.

Utility costs can go either way, again depending on what you're accustomed to. If you're moving from a place where you pay to air-condition your home 10 or 11 months a year, the Midwest may seem cheap. If you're moving from a region that is very temperate and you rarely need either heat or air conditioning, you're in for a shock in the winter months here.

Gasoline prices are pretty average here; you can find both more and less expensive regions. On the upside, unless you live in Madison and commute to Waupun, which I think is just plain silly (but I know people who do just that), you're not likely to spend too terribly much money or time getting to and from work.

You see, there are lots of variables to consider; so start by giving us an idea of your present situation, and we'll try to make some comparisons.

[m42martin]

First I would like to say how continually impressed I am at how informative and responsive people are on this forum. It certainly puts our mind at ease to hear things from people who know the area.

As for our situation now, we live in a small city (population around 30,000) in Virginia. Currently our combined household income is about 36,000K per year. We do expect that to go up significantly as we both (wife and myself) are only working part-time right now. I am working and going to school and my wife works part time for the school system here (ie - she only works 10 months out of the year). I hope to find a full-time job (entry level software development) before we relocate (I'm working on a few leads now) and my wife will start looking for some kind of full time administrative work once we move.

Currently we live in a 2 BR apartment with a bonus office room and a balcony - totaling about 920 square feet for $700 per month. This includes water, but no other utilities. We live in Virginia so it is pretty temperate. There are times during both the summer and winter when we do not need to run the heat or the A/C. During the coldest months - January/February our electric bill (which includes heat, as it is electric) runs just over $100.00 per month. I would say that it is about the same during the hottest summer months - July/August. However during the Spring and Fall when we often do not need the heat or the A/C it can get as low at $60/$70. Gas prices here now are around $3.18 for the lowest grade - they've really gone up in just the past week.

We'd like to find a comparable sized apartment (either a complex , duplex, or single unit) in a safe area that's relatively convenient. Of course ideally we'd like to be within walking distance of at least a few things - coffeeshop, park, that kind of thing. If that's not entirely possible, biking distance would also be nice. But that's not required. We've also discussed settling for a complex a further from the center of things (but preferably still on the east side) with the thought in mind that we could live there for 6 mos - 1 year which would give us some time to explore the area and then possibly look into buying a little bungalo somewhere. In other words, we could deal with it keeping in mind that it'd be temporary.

Any thought or suggesting would be most appreciated. Or any considerations that we may not have addressed.

Thank you in advance!

[MidwesternBookWorm]

Ok, that gives me a lot more data upon which to make some forecasts.

First of all, you are very likely correct in expecting your incomes to rise. Madison's pay rates generally are higher than much of the rest of the state, largely because unemployment is so low (around 2%) that employers have to pay premium wages to find workers. The downside to that, of course, is that it drives costs higher as well, and you can definitely expect to see an increase in your cost of living if you move here.

I am not in the IT field, but if you have a degree in computer science, even as an entry-level software developer, you should be able to land something that'll earn you more than the two of you make together in Virginia. And a good administrative assistant working fulltime should be able to pull in somewhere in the $20-$25K range.

Warning: I am glad that you have some leads, and by all means follow them up, but don't be too surprised or offended if you don't land an offer until you actually have a Madison address. A lot of other people who post to this forum have reported very little interest on the part of prospective employers when they apply from out of state, a situation that changes dramatically once they're finally living here. As a hiring manager myself, I can understand the employers' point; when you need to fill a vacancy, you'd rather find someone who can start in two weeks than someone who'll need two or three months to get relocated here, and who may want moving costs covered to boot.

So let's assume that you're in Madison and you're looking for a place to live. This is going to involve some sticker shock, I fear; your $700 place in Virginia could cost you as much as 50% more here in Madison. That's the downside I mentioned earlier, and it kind of sucks, particularly when you're trying to relocate on the wages you're making there. If you wanted to live anywhere near the UW campus (which I do NOT recommend), that same apartment could be as much as twice the cost of what you're paying in Virginia, with parking an extra $75 or more on top of that.

Don't let that scare you, though! While I would not try to claim that anywhere in Madison is "affordable", the east side probably comes closer to that than most other areas. You can find places in a similar price range to your current apartment, although probably not with the same amenities, and most areas on the east side do not charge extra for parking. This website: Start Renting - Search for your Madison, Wisconsin Apartment is a good place to start.

As to utility costs, that can vary so dramatically that I won't even try to quote specific numbers; the range is just too huge, and it wouldn't be any use to you. However, once you find an apartment you're interested in, you can go to Average Energy Use and Cost for Residential Addresses to find out what the past year's worth of gas and electric bills for the place have been. And for comparison, you can check other apartments in the building or addresses on the street, to see if the place you're looking at is typical of the area.

As I've suggested to many others on this forum, you should always check with Tenant Resource Center before signing a lease in this city. They operate as a sort of Better Business Bureau for landlords, and can tell you if your prospective landlord is a good guy or a slumlord.

Your thought to settle for a less-expensive, not-quite-ideal place for 6 to 12 months is a good one, too; we did exactly that, and found that it gave us the time to house-shop more carefully. There are several large apartment complexes out near East Towne Mall, which, while I wouldn't buy a house out there, wouldn't be a bad place for a short time.

When you do go on the market for a house, you'll want to spend some time here: City of Madison: Assessor's Property Information to find out how much those property taxes will add to the mortgage bill. They can be pretty spendy, I'll warn you. At the same site, you can also see how home prices are in a given neighborhood or on a particular street.

Another thing that I'd suggest is that you go on a typical grocery shopping trip there at home, and keep your list when you're through, along with your receipt. When you visit Madison, take that list to a couple-three of the local grocery stores with a calculator, and see how much the same basket of groceries would cost you here.

If you have a vehicle, you might also visit a couple of different local insurance agents to get quotes on how much insurance will cost you here. That can vary enormously from one state to another.

You don't mention whether you're childless, have daycare-age kids, school-age kids, college-age kids or are empty-nesters, but obviously all those variables will factor into your costs as well. You'll want to check in with daycare centers and after-school-care centers here, if that's relevant to you, to see how prices compare to what you pay now. Since our offspring were in their teens when we moved here, I can't tell you what to expect for those costs, but a few phone calls could yield you plenty of data.

Good luck! It takes time to do all that research, I know, but the better you prepare yourselves, the likelier it'll be that your move will be relatively easy and the transplantation process a success. We'll watch for you at the Farmers' Market!

[ThankfulHeart]

The replies to your request have been very informative. From a Madison landlord perspective, I would suggest you talking to existing tenants of the building prior to signing a lease. The cost of gas is $3.65 in Madison and I would predict will be increasing so that should be a consideration on your monthly budget and commuting location for you and your wife. Off street parking is usually somewhat more difficult to find on the east side of Madison. Madison has many parks and a wonderful bike trail that runs through the eastside and around Lake Monona. Bus system is also good. The capital square is just spectacular and a wonderful place to socialize in the summer with concerts on the square and the farmer's market (for those willing to get up early !). A general rule for calculating how much rent you can afford is calculating your total net monthly income after taxes and mulitplying it by .30 this will give you an estimate of not only what you can afford but also what Landlord's may consider for ability to rent. Of course additions to the rent would be utilities, parking, insurance (some landlord's require renter's insurance about $100 a year), food ( I use to shop at Woodman's), transportation and entertainment expenses. Rents vary quite a bit by location, condition and size of unit. Moderator cut: you are welcome to post your unit for rent in the City-Data classified forum