Southeast by the lake? (Milwaukee, Kenosha: houses, school district, college)

[foiplus]

Hi! My husband and I are throwing around the idea of relocating to be closer to our family. His family is in suburban Chicago, but I find it kind of depressing there. (Lots of money, little old houses) Anyway, we are looking at SE Wisconsin, hopefully not too far from the lake (and if there's a nice beach/park close, that would be cool too). We have an almost 1 year old, so eventually good schools would matter. Does this exist??

TIA!

[Jim Finn]

Kensosh and Racine are in that area. Both on the lake. (I grew up in Racine long ago). Both are industrial towns. Nice beaches and parks there. Winters are butal. You need to go there to see it but it is a bit nicer than Chicago area is , true.

[adam76]

Racine and Kenosha are decent places but being smaller cities employement choices might be harder depending on your line of work. I'd also suggest looking into south eastern Milwaukee County such as Cudahy, South Milwaukee, St Francis and Oak Creek. They are close the lake, have a good choices of parks for the kids and schools are OK. The housing stock is older as well (with the exception of some newer developments in Oak Creek) but you'll find prices agreeable when compared to Chicago.

[SickOfTheSunbelt]

Where do people in Kenosha work? It looks like a great little town right on the shores of a spectacular lake, but don't wanna ride the Metra to Chicago everyday.....

[Huckleberry Dumbell]

Kinda depends what you do for a living.

[Dea13]

We live in Racine County, Village of Caledonia. We're 5 minutes from Lake Michigan boat launch. 1/2 mile from a bike trail. Farm fields view from our backyard. 25 min drive to my job in downtown Milwaukee. 45 min from Bass Pro Shops in Gurnee, IL. Great location but still have rural, peaceful feel. We have bonfires in our yard, daughter chases fireflies and watches deer in the farm fields. Our daughter goes to a parochial school 2 miles from our home so I'm not as familiar with the public school system here.

For health reasons we are selling our home and moving to drier climate but I would encourage anyone to check out our area. It's beautiful!

Dea

[PBH_Carpentry]

Hello,
It pretty much depends on what your job limitations are, and how close is not close enough to the lake...
I live in the Geneva lake area and love it, moved back from the Tennessee area a couple years ago and the my cousins love the school system. Like any thing, it's a big decision...
mod cut
Good-luck,

[Undecided2008]

Kenosha and Racine are both on the lake and have some good qualities. From what I've heard (I might be wrong) Racine public high schools have more behavioral problems than Kenosha, but I live out in Kenosha County so I'm probably biased.

As for jobs a lot of people work in Milwaukee or in northern Illinois, and I know A LOT of people employed by Abbott.

[MAPMike]

I live two miles south of the WI / IL state line, two miles from Lake Michigan and work in Buffalo Grove / Lincolnshire area of IL. There are many places in south and central Lake County IL and I see that there are many folks that live in Kenosha County WI and work in Lake County IL. When I got out of the Navy 15 years ago (last duty station was Great Lakes, IL) we decided to stay put. I figured there had to be working opportunities between Chicago and Milwaukee. When I get off work (during the riding season), I jump on my Harley and head for SE Wisconsin (I-43 and east). Twin Lakes to Wilmont to Silver Lake - Delevan and Elkhorn to Burlington to Waterford - these are some of my favorite places in SE WI. Although I live half-way between downtown Chicago and Milwaukee, It's 45 min to Milwaukee and 90 min to Chicago. Got to go to Milwaukke now. Have a great New Year. Mike

[manakinw]

We love Caledonia...I love the cute Racine downtown area. We like the rural suburbs with the option of getting quickly to the urban setting. North Beach is wonderful, the restaurants are very nice, and we have found so much do with kids.
BUT!!!! get into Oak Creek schools or parochial or homeschool. Those are your education options. Caledonia is discussing a school district but who knows when that will happen.
With so many people moving into Muskego so many years ago, a better school system than the one they had before was developed. It was awful! Straight "A" students struggling through college. So it could be that this could happen here.