Green Bay, Madison or Milwaukee??

[WisconsinIght]

Originally Posted by Hoosier

Hey all,

Out of the three choices, Green Bay, Madison or Milwaukee which is the best to live and why? We live in the Twin Cities and my wife may be getting a job offer to work in one of these cities...they may ask her to choose. Can you help us? We have two young kids, ages 4 and 8. Church is a huge part of our life so being plugged into a good Bible-believing church is a must.

Thanks!!

I'd actually choose Green Bay. You might even want to look into Appleton, about 20 miles south of Green Bay. It's within great driving distance of everything. Milwaukee, about 1 1/2 hours, Madison, same, and Green Bay, about 25 min. It's a great little town, about 75,000 people. My husband and three kids, ages 9, 5, and 4 and I currently reside there and love it. It has a big mall, many various shopping centers, GREAT schools, and many churches. I would probably be a bug culture shock after the Twin Cities, but it's a fabulous town.

[mcclee13]

So I have lived in Green Bay most of my life and now attend UWGB. I get so SICK of hearing other students that are not from here complain about how there is nothing to do in Green Bay. How there is NO culture and nothing other than bars and hicks and Packer fans. People are just really lazy and don't want to put in any effort to find other people interested in what they are in and find other things to do. Yes Green Bay is a pretty spread out, kind of wierd to get around city but that doesn't mean that you can't still find stuff to do. There are PLENTY of interesting things...the whole Broadway district, the Meyer Theatre, that ART GARAGE, Kavarna, Cafe Esspresso, Teaocity, The Attic, Cup o' Joy Paint N' Pottery, Comedy City and the Venture Theatre...I could go on for even longer and I don't think I know about half the cool stuff to do. Yea there are some...closeminded, slightly redneckish folks, but seriously...this is Wisconsin...what do you expect any where?

I just really think people need to stop bitching and being lazy and FIND STUFF TO DO!

[Central Illinois 1]

At one time or another, I have lived in all three cities and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. I personally would pick Madison hands down though. It is clean, progressive, and has lots of cultural and recreational amenities as well as good schools. The only real downside is that the cost of housing can be high in the nicer areas (400K - 1M). But you can get into a nice house in the $250K range in decent areas. Milwaukee is alot more urban and much larger. So it is a different lifestyle. Milwaukee can be good or bad depending on where you live. If you have $$, the East Side, Fox Point, Brookfield, Mequon, and many other places are great. But if you're short on dough, forget Milwaukee. The cheaper areas aren't that great and certainly wouldn't be the greatest place to raise a family (think urban grit). GB is more of a small town. Fewer things to do (except on Packer Sundays), not a very pretty city generally, but much more affordable in terms of what you get for the money housing and neighborhood-wise. Generally, GB seems to be more conservative than Milwaukee and is definitely more conservative than Madison. My rankings: 1. Madison (definitely), 2.) Milwaukee (if you're talking about the better parts of the area), and 3.) Green Bay (smaller, homey, alot like any other midwestern town - nice but very unspectacular). The people are great all over Wisconsin and the weather is terrible throughout. So neither of those factors should influence your choice of location.

[Dawn85345]

Hi, I also have been doing some research on the town of Madison, Wisconsin.
My best advise to you since you do have children is to go to find registered offenders and find the zip code and location you are searching in prior to making any decisions about moving there. I think you might be shocked to learn from Watchdog where you truly don't want to be.
Good luck to you and your family if you decide to move to Madison. Wi.
Dawn

[jjacobeclark]

Originally Posted by Hoosier

Hey all,

Out of the three choices, Green Bay, Madison or Milwaukee which is the best to live and why? We live in the Twin Cities and my wife may be getting a job offer to work in one of these cities...they may ask her to choose. Can you help us? We have two young kids, ages 4 and 8. Church is a huge part of our life so being plugged into a good Bible-believing church is a must.

Thanks!!

If "Bible-believing" church is that important to your family I say Green Bay. It's more conservative and has a larger number of Protestant churches. By that "Bible-believing" comment I assume you don't like Catholics much, keep in mind the dominant religion in Wisconsin is Catholicism. Of the 73% of Green Bay residents who said they were religious, 52% were Catholic. Milwaukee is only 48% religious and Madison is 52% religious by comparison.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

Picture in your mind your ideal living situation.

If you love big cities, like I do, then you'll probably prefer Milwaukee. It ain't New York or San Francisco, no place in Wisconsin is, but it is a major urban area.

If your ideal place is a small town where everybody knows everybody, and has a close-knit, friendly, accessible feel, then you'll probably prefer Madison or Green Bay. Neither of these places are really "small towns" in the Mayberry sense, but they are not urban areas.

[badgerborn]

It depends on your favorite team and food. Green Bay has the NFL, restaurant chains, mostly near Lambeau Field, and retro supper clubs serving steaks and fried perch. Milwaukee has the NBA and MLB with old world German, Serbian and Polish dishes and Madison has a mix of world flavors but no pro sports. Live near Fond du Lac and be about equidistant from all three cities.

[Milwaukee City]

I prefer Milwaukee b/c it has more opportunities for work, play and just doing a lot more things. I hated Milwaukee in 90's well things have changed and a lot of revitalization has taken place in downtown and near downtown and all around the city which make it more enjoyable than it used to be in 1992. Milwaukee has made great strides in reducing crime which is evident by no longer being on the top 25 most dangerous cities list. I love the energy of living downtown and all the things I can do right outside my front door. When I feel like going camping it's very nice having two kettle moraine state parks close by and kohler Andre is only an hour away. I have traveled to other cities in the us and I have come to love Milwaukee and if it wasn't for weather I would live here for the rest of my life.