Brookfield (Waukesha: neighborhood, private school, university)

[schools]

I need the pluses & minuses of this town in regards to HS, area (seems like a lot of strip malls & subdivisions only-am I wrong????), property taxes compared to rest of Waukesha Cty.,Is it a real "keeping up w/the Jones's" type of town?? Do a lot of residents send their kids to private school? If so, why??? Any other info!!!

[quijote]

The schools in Brookfield are really good and send lots of kids to good colleges, but other posters can comment on specific schools (such as Brookfield West vs Brookfield East). I teach at a university in Mke and get a lot of Brookfield students, and they are almost always very well prepared for college work.

Brookfield is a rather upscale place in general, and it does have a local rep for having a lot of high-consuming, status-conscious residents, but the reality is a bit more complex than that. The part of Brookfield in the zip code 35005 is the wealthiest section, and you'll certainly find your share of possession-happy people there, but exceptions exists as in all other such places. Outside of that zip code, Brookfield tends to be more solidly middle class. Geographically, Brookfield is fairly large, so you will find a lot of options in the middle class-to-upper class socioeconomic range. You should have no problem finding a neighborhood that suits your values, and you'll probably find that "keeping up with the Joneses" in most parts of Brookfield is not as intense as in the wealthy suburbs of Chicago, NY, LA, etc.

Shopping centers and strip malls define the retail experience in Brookfield; Brookfield Square is the main mall, and Blue Mound Road is the main retail street. If you want a community with more of a walkable neighborhood feel, Brookfield is probably not for you.