Milwaukee comparable to which midwestern city? (Cleveland, Buffalo: unemployment, exodus, cities)

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by Ron Burgundy

Correct me if I'm wrong, but St. Louis County is completely independent of the city of St Louis, correct? That would be like saying throw out the numbers for the city of Milwaukee and just look at Ozaukee County. I get your point, yeah most people aren't going to move directly into the battle zone, but the numbers for the city are still relevant. Especially to those who choose to live in those cities.

If you want to compare apples to apples, it would make sense to compare Milwaukee city plus the remainder of Milwaukee County with rates for St. Louis city plus St. Louis County. In doing so, my guess is that per capita crime statistics for the areas would be similar. However, for the average citizen of either area, suceptibility to being a victim of a crime varies by where he/she is actually located. For instance, parts of both north Milwaukee and north St. Louis city are prettty much war zones. However, wealthier burbs in both areas have extremely low crime rates. Bottom line: If you are wealthy and living in either area, crime is likely to be of little concern to you on a daily basis. But if you are poor and live in the inner city, you have a good chance of being a victim of a crime in either city.

[Chicagoland60426]

Originally Posted by tjschmi

Milwaukee is my hometown and it is like a mini-Chicago. It has a great skyline and a pretty big pop. of 602,000 people. Although St. Louis has more crime, Milwaukee reminds me of it because it has very high murder rates ect. just like St.Louis.

It's no mini Chicago.

Look at the difference between the housing stock of Milwaukee and Chicago. By looking at streetview, Milwaukee is mostly frame houses and the downtown look nothing like Chicago.

[annkathryn]

I like St. Louis better than Milwaukee. People are friendlier and the climates, MUCH better. There springs are about four weeks ahead of Mil.

[Tiger Beer]

I wonder if Pittsburgh would be a comparison...both working class (or both were, but Pittsburgh diversified a bit)...but mostly both are very dense with a lively downtown area...plus sports nuts

[jjacobeclark]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I wonder if Pittsburgh would be a comparison...both working class (or both were, but Pittsburgh diversified a bit)...but mostly both are very dense with a lively downtown area...plus sports nuts

It seems to me that Milwaukee is doing much better than Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's population continues to decline within the city limits, while Milwaukee has steadily been adding to its population over the decade.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by MidwestAir

I would disagree. I was recently in St. Louis and it is dull. Their downtown was empty and after one visit I have a really negative impression. I actually thought it would be a lot better than it was. I think Milwaukee is a mini-Chicago or like a Kansas City (minus the ribs).

I really do not think Milwaukee is anything like Kansas City. Kansas City has a much more western feel with some southern tinges. Also, Kansas City is a much newer city with less in the way of older housing stock compared to Milwaukee, Cleveland, Chicago, etc. The climate in KC is also much warmer compared to Milwaukee with little in the way of coniferous trees.

[city414]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I wonder if Pittsburgh would be a comparison...both working class (or both were, but Pittsburgh diversified a bit)...but mostly both are very dense with a lively downtown area...plus sports nuts

stop it

[whinniethezen]

I would not compare Milwaukee to Cleveland at all, except for the industrial rust belt aspect of both cities.
Milwaukee is very unique IMO of a recent visit there. I was blown away by Milwaukee because I always thought of it as a much smaller town, like on Happy Days. It is much more sprawling than I thought, and has many fine suburbs and surrounding communities.
Where Cleveland's lakefront has the R&R Hall of Fame, Milwaukee has a beautiful Calatrava designed art museum and a Discovery museum/aquarium. Milwaukee's pub scene is incredible. In Cleveland there were a handful of good bars mostly near the Indians ballpark. Milwaukee has a corner pub on nearly every corner for miles, and four entire city districts devoted to beer halls, taverns, and microbreweries and eateries. Milwaukee has the Petit Natinal Ice Center, a world class zoo, a very good variety of restaurants, and a ton of green space within their city. We noticed that there are endless bike trails through the city and along the lake, and they are still wooded and beautiful! I felt the lakefront was Milwaukees best feature, there were nice beaches , sprawling parks and a giant festival grounds. The architecture reminded me of a cross between early day Chicago and later day Detroit. But it's pretty at night when the German influenced skyscrapers are backlit and the dozens of church steeples are rising up into the modest modern skyline. There were definately better hotels to choose from in Milwaukee than Clevleand. The people of Milwaukee were pretty outgoing compared to Cleveland, but maybe thats just my experience. I also think their airport was one of the easiest I've ever experienced. Cleveland has its moments, but Milwaukee is more like Memphis without the hillbilly southerners than it is like Cleveland. I also could see a little bit of Chicago and and St Louis.

[Allan Trafton]

Originally Posted by whinniethezen

I would not compare Milwaukee to Cleveland at all, except for the industrial rust belt aspect of both cities.
Milwaukee is very unique IMO of a recent visit there. I was blown away by Milwaukee because I always thought of it as a much smaller town, like on Happy Days. It is much more sprawling than I thought, and has many fine suburbs and surrounding communities.
Where Cleveland's lakefront has the R&R Hall of Fame, Milwaukee has a beautiful Calatrava designed art museum and a Discovery museum/aquarium. Milwaukee's pub scene is incredible. In Cleveland there were a handful of good bars mostly near the Indians ballpark. Milwaukee has a corner pub on nearly every corner for miles, and four entire city districts devoted to beer halls, taverns, and microbreweries and eateries. Milwaukee has the Petit Natinal Ice Center, a world class zoo, a very good variety of restaurants, and a ton of green space within their city. We noticed that there are endless bike trails through the city and along the lake, and they are still wooded and beautiful! I felt the lakefront was Milwaukees best feature, there were nice beaches , sprawling parks and a giant festival grounds. The architecture reminded me of a cross between early day Chicago and later day Detroit. But it's pretty at night when the German influenced skyscrapers are backlit and the dozens of church steeples are rising up into the modest modern skyline. There were definately better hotels to choose from in Milwaukee than Clevleand. The people of Milwaukee were pretty outgoing compared to Cleveland, but maybe thats just my experience. I also think their airport was one of the easiest I've ever experienced. Cleveland has its moments, but Milwaukee is more like Memphis without the hillbilly southerners than it is like Cleveland. I also could see a little bit of Chicago and and St Louis.

Thank you for your nice post. It's great to have an outsider review the city in a positive light. Often they have a clear view of what things are like as opposed to a longtime resident. Your review is as spot on as any I have read. I wish many of the local posters could see the positive you see and appreciate what we have in Milwaukee. Many of them dwell on the negatives and act as if Milwaukee is the only city in America that has problems.
Thanks again for your excellent review.

[TommyGavin]

I don't know what it truly takes to make a comparison between different cities.
If you take styles of residential construction, and overall feel of cities, based entirely on the residential neighborhoods, I think that Cleveland and Buffalo resemble Milwaukee very closely.

The large, wood-frame homes built within several feet of each other are extremely similar in both size, but style. I had to shake my head a few times while in Buffalo a couple of weeks ago, some of the neighborhoods were so close to those of here that it was scary.
The corner restaurants, or bars were even the same.

Other than that, I don't really know. Each city has it's own distinctness, but with their location on lakes, even though all are situated differently, there are some very close similarities. And for me at least, the feel was very close.