cheap neighborhoods in the city? (Milwaukee: apartments, rent, houses)

[relocatingmke]

I may be moving to MKE soon. I am looking into apartments (on Clist, etc.) and I have noticed that the rooms there are quite cheap (for a major city, anyway).

I am not sure which areas of the city I will necessarily be working in, but i know I will need a car for my work, so I will be traveling around to different areas.

I would like to live in a downtown area (something with close-by restaurants, maybe a pharmacy, quick stop, and/or gym) but I am on a budget. And it doesn't have to be in the middle of everything, but definitely an area that I can find lots of things in within 1/2 or 1 mile.

AND I noticed that monthly parking will be anywhere from 85-150.

I am not looking to spend any more than, say, 450 on a room (considering I will have to pay for parking too).

Can anyone recommend a neighborhood or "borough" that would be ideal? Something cheap, not necessarily the prettiest or nicest area, but safe, walkable, and not hard to far out to the suburbs?

I imagine something in the west area neighborhoods, no?

[radraja]

For downtown, the east side is better.
The west sides of downtown are where you'll run into some ghettos.

That said, the east side can be ridiculously expensive.

[karfar]

If you can spend $450, look for a studio instead of a room. It seems most places that rent out just rooms are not the nicest. You can probably find a studio for around that much, maybe even an apartment, although it won't be that nice. I'll warn you though, if you want to live downtown or the east side, like brady st. area, you'll have to spend some time searching for something in that range, it's not impossible though. But those are the 2 areas you'll want to live if you want to have a bunch of stuff around you that's close by. I don't think parking will be as much as you say, depending of course what you find. There's street parking, make SURE you get an overnight parking pass. It can be tough to find street parking, the east side is notorious for bad parking.

[Lookout Kid]

The problemn with Milwaukee is that the only neighborhoods that meet your criteria are of course the most expensive neighborhoods. You'll want to avoid the "cheap" neighborhoods, believe me!

If the East Side is too pricey for ya, you might want to check out Bay View. It's a bit too sleepy for me (I lived there once for six months), but every time I drive down KK I see a new coffee shop or boutique store. It's mostly detached houses around there, though. You might be able to find an attic apartment or something.

[Gettingaway]

The Northwest side close to Mill Road may have studio or 1 bedroom apartments for $500. I remember my first apartment on 101st and Mill road being $425/ month for a 1 bedroom. That was 5 years ago so it may have went up.