Indiana farm girl moving to Madison, needs information! (Middleton, Verona: best town, sublets)
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Indiana farm girl moving to Madison, needs information!
Hi, I'm hoping to move to Madison early next spring when I graduate from college. I'll have a BA in information technology. I have an uncle near Madison (4 hours away??) and from what I understand Madison is good for information technology jobs. I'm early twenties and will be living alone, and I've never lived in a city of more than 40,000 people before.
I've done a lot of research on what the city is like and apartments and such, but I was hoping for some information from real-life Madison residents.
*How hard will it be for me to find a job? I know the economy is hard right now, but the unemployment in Indiana is up near 30% in real numbers right now, and I've already accepted that I will not be finding a job if I stay here.
*What are good neighborhoods? Dangerous neighborhoods?
*Will I need a vehicle or is public transportation good enough? Is a vehicle recommended anyway for any other reasons?
*Is the cost of living really high? What is a livable wage for a single girl? I'm not expecting a huge salary right out of college (I'll take what I can get), but I'd like enough to live on, keeping in mind I will be paying back student loans.
*Any general information about Madison? Things you hate about it, things you love about it?
Any information anyone can give me would be so much appreciated! Graduating college in a time like this is a little more than stressful, as you could probably guess, and having to move out of state just adds to the woes. Thanks anyone who replies.
Just kidding, I'm an old farm kid with an IT degree too.....not too old tho
For the most part employment is OK, but that's mainly due to the influence UW and the state capitol has on the local economy. The company I work for implemented a hiring freeze.
You may have a tougher time finding an apartment. The apartment vacancy rate is at it lowest in years. When I took a 3 day apartment hunting trip to Madison I had close to 15 placed lined up to view, 3 or 4 of them rented out while I was driving here, and one place rented as I was viewing it.
Madison had two bad neighborhoods, Allied Drive and Badger Road (and that spot just north of Badger). Then the city tried to break up those areas, now the baddies are spread out around town, and now that they're no longer neighbors and live in different sections of the city, they're starting to form regional gangs and shooting at each other. So you really want to avoid streets, and the areas immediately adjacent to these streets rather than whole areas. A couple of blocks down the road and things aren't so bad.
Avoid Allied Dr and Badger Rd, Thurston Lane, Loreen Drive and three blocks west of Hammersley Rd where Loreen intersects, and anything inside the area bordered by Russet Rd, S Whitney Rd, Thrush Ln, and Cameron Drive. Coho St is bad, and avoid any apartment complex directly next to Verona Rd/Hwy 151. The two common traits all these places share are it's either a cluster of low rent duplexes, or it's an old apartment building that was close to Allied Drive.
These streets are on the southwest side of town, excluding Coho. The rest of the area isn't bad and has some of the better values in terms of apartments, it's just that the cheap ones attracted the wrong crowd. Someone else might chime in on the north east side, I don't get over there to often but it has some rough places too.
Given your age, you'll probably want to stay in the near west/downtown/near east areas. Rent will be more, but that's where all the action is. And by action, I mean fun stuff and cultural events, not thugs shooting at each other. Play your cards right and you might find some former-farm-kid-turned-IT-guy action on the west side.......ahh, just kidding again. I'm something of a flirt.
Madison has a decent mass transit system. It's safe, dependable and fairly well run. I just wouldn't want to stand outside and wait for one every day during the winter. Of course I say that when riding my bike in the winter is no big deal. Madison has a good set of bike paths, if you get lucky (with the apartment and the work location, not just with me) you might be able to commute to work & back solely on a path. And if there's one thing Madison has, it's plenty of cheap used bikes to buy.
Cost of living is average. My auto/renters insurance is cheaper than other cities, state taxes are a little higher but not much. Couldn't tell you about a living wage though, because in addition to being so incredibly handsome and disarmingly witty, I'm also unbelievably rich ;>
What I would recommend (besides hooking up with yours truly) is finding a place in the rooms & shares section of craigslist. It'll be the lowest cost solution that will get you in town and keep costs down until you find a job. Those offerings tend to be short-term, so after you get a job you can look for the right place without getting stuck in a long term lease on the opposite side of town. Many of the rooms & shares posts are from students or young downtown/near downtown professionals who can tell you more about Madison and might have some job networking knowlege. If there aren't any good offerings there I'd then check the sublets section. It'll be the same deal, mostly students and young professionals somewhere near downtown, but those tend to be more expensive since you're not splitting rent with anyone.
Madison has a nice mix of country heritage, intellectualism, and some humor and eccentricity thrown in, but that's mostly in the city's core. The further you get into the suburbs the more it looks and acts like any other piece of suburbia, which is probably why most people who actually live there choose to do so.
Congratulations on graduating, I hope the job search goes much easier than you thought.
Wow subclavius, it's really getting thick in here... at least you were being subtle
Don't worry Harpoon, I really was just joking around...
That being said, as someone who once lived in farm country, the stereotypical aspect of a farmer's daughters physical beauty often proves to be true. They also tend to have a complimentary set of characteristics that exceeds their urban counterparts, like a good work ethic, an ample supply of common sense and self-sufficiency, etc. On the down side, if they end up going to a big state university they frequently throw all that away in an attempt to "catch up" on what they think they were missing.
But the idea of a young farmer's daughter showing up in town was just too much to ignore, so I ran with it while at the same time trying to be helpful.
Don't worry Harpoon, I really was just joking around...
That being said, as someone who once lived in farm country, the stereotypical aspect of a farmer's daughters physical beauty often proves to be true. They also tend to have a complimentary set of characteristics that exceeds their urban counterparts, like a good work ethic, an ample supply of common sense and self-sufficiency, etc. On the down side, if they end up going to a big state university they frequently throw all that away in an attempt to "catch up" on what they think they were missing.
But the idea of a young farmer's daughter showing up in town was just too much to ignore, so I ran with it while at the same time trying to be helpful.
I agree with pretty much everything Subclavius said. Really, there are only a few small parts of town that are the "bad" areas; for the most part Madison is very nice and quite safe.
I've always found apartments on Craigslist. The time of year you are moving may limit apartment availability somewhat, as most of the leases in town turn over on August 15. However, if you want to find a cheap sublet for the summer, those are plentiful. You can always do that while you look for a more permanent place.
As far as cost of living goes, I've found Madison quite affordable. I've never made more than $30k a year and live very comfortably.
Public transportation is pretty good here, though if you want to travel during non-peak times, the buses don't run very frequently. That being said, I lived downtown for two years with no car and it was fine. Biking here is easy; there are trails that you can ride to get almost everywhere you'd need to go.
As a young pro, I'd recommend living downtown or near East side. Unless, of course, you get a job at Epic (they're the big employer of young IT types) in which case you're either looking at a commute or living on the West side.
Jobs (at least ones with benefits and decent pay) have always been tricky to find in my experience, but I'm not in your field, so I don't have a great perspective for you. Be aware that the University is currently under a hiring freeze, though.
I found our rental house on CL as well. Note: we signed a lease in March for a place beginning in June in the Near West. We also signed site unseen (only photos, neighborhood research, and speaking with the current tenants). We're in the house now and LOVE IT. Definitely do your research, but if you can't do multiple trips out to Madison, it can still work out.
Hi, I'm hoping to move to Madison early next spring when I graduate from college. I'll have a BA in information technology. I have an uncle near Madison (4 hours away??) and from what I understand Madison is good for information technology jobs. I'm early twenties and will be living alone, and I've never lived in a city of more than 40,000 people before.
I've done a lot of research on what the city is like and apartments and such, but I was hoping for some information from real-life Madison residents.
*How hard will it be for me to find a job? I know the economy is hard right now, but the unemployment in Indiana is up near 30% in real numbers right now, and I've already accepted that I will not be finding a job if I stay here.
Jobs are fairly hard to find anywhere, but Madison is pretty good for IT folks.. I would suggest looking at Epic, they are almost always hiring, but they won't even look at your app if your GPA or ACT or SAT scores were not above average. Also look at TDS, I have worked for them, great company really values their employees. They usually have IT positions as well. Also, if you are willing to go the temp job route (many find this easier to get a permanent job through temp to hire), check out Aerotek, Spherion, Kelley Services, QTI, and many other temp agencies in Madison. Cuna is also a good one, most of the IT jobs I have seen have been on the west side.
*What are good neighborhoods? Dangerous neighborhoods?
Good neighborhoods are most of the West Side, I don't know much about the East side or any other areas. Since you are not used to crime at all most likely being an Indiana farm girl, avoid pretty much all of Raymond Road, McKenna, and areas mentioned above. Danger is relative, but the areas already mentioned are most likely going to seem dangerous to you. There is a lot of noisy kids out at all times, some drug dealers, a shooting usually 0-2 a year, and some property crime. Outside of what has already been mentioned you should be pretty good.
*Will I need a vehicle or is public transportation good enough? Is a vehicle recommended anyway for any other reasons?
I commute everywhere by Segway, but realize not all can do this. People say public transportation is good, I'm not so sure. If you want to get downtown, you will be fine, but to get from one side of town to the other you'll be looking at an hour to an hour and a half each way. Most busses only come every half hour or every hour, and some busses take an hour to get from one point to the other. All of this is relative though because it depends on where you live and where you're going. For me to get from my house on the west side to the north or east side takes an hour and a half by bus. To get downtown usually takes 45 minutes.
*Is the cost of living really high? What is a livable wage for a single girl? I'm not expecting a huge salary right out of college (I'll take what I can get), but I'd like enough to live on, keeping in mind I will be paying back student loans.
The cost of living for a single girl should be pretty low. Any job you get in IT in Madison should pay a decent living wage. There are also several people these days with rooms for rent. This may be something to consider as well. Craigslist is going to yield you better results than rent.com. Big Sky and High Point Manor seem to have some pretty good deals on 1 beds and studios as well as Greg Shimansky properties or whatever it's called. Also, I would check around Watts Road, across from and down the street from Wal-Mart. There are plenty of complexes and that area is deemed safe by most anyone's standards, anything past Shroeder down Gammon/McKenna you may want to avoid just knowing your background. Madison as a whole is very safe and ranked among the safest if not the safest cities of it's size. Middleton also has good deals on apartments as does Verona. Middleton was ranked "Best town to live in" back in 08' I think, maybe 07'.
*Any general information about Madison? Things you hate about it, things you love about it?
Madison is very liberal and there are all kinds of people here.. That could be good and could be bad, depending on who is looking at it. I like it, some do not. The only thing I hate about Madison is the weather. But Indiana isn't too far off...
Any information anyone can give me would be so much appreciated! Graduating college in a time like this is a little more than stressful, as you could probably guess, and having to move out of state just adds to the woes. Thanks anyone who replies.
Look Up ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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