Eau Claire v. Wausau (Stevens Point, Chippewa Falls: crime, unemployment, best schools)

[Signora]

Ok... Could anyone do a comparison of the two? Is Eau Claire anything like Wausau for a family with small children? I know it is closer to Minneapolis... but are there the same outdoor activity possibilities? How are the schools?

[Trabbz]

I don't know too much about Wausau so I am not sure if I should even respond but I grew up in Eau Claire. Eau Claire is consistently rated one of the safest metro areas in the nation, and I believe that Wausau also makes that list. I know from growing up in Eau Claire that we have some of the best schools around. For a medium sized city the schools had endless extra curricular activities and sports. Eau Claire is very much a family city, which is the exact reason I moved! I moved to Florida when I was 20 for a change, and to explore other options. There just wasn't too much there for a young adult except for UWEC. If you have a family there are plenty of parks, recreation, and events for families such as Cinder City Days and Sawdust City Days and the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. There is also Carson Park and the area also has Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls.

FYI - If I ever have kids in Florida, the first thing I am doing is moving back to Eau Claire. The crime is terrible here, and the schools are rated among the worst in the nation. I feel so much more educated than 95% of the people here in the Tampa Bay area and I was educated by the Eau Claire School District.

Hope this helps.

[ben242000]

Wausau is dirtier than Eau Claire and farther from a major metro area like you stated. It runs on paper. I prefer Stevens Point to it, as do a lot of the other people I know who have worked/lived in both. I work at the airport in Mosinee, which is inbetween so I see people go both ways a lot.

[DanicaFlyte]

Dear Signora,

I hope this information isn't too late to be of any help to you, as I just checked this site for any activity.

I have some facts for you which may help you compare Eau Claire, Wisconsin with Wausau, Wisconsin.

I’ve gained all of these facts from the U.S. Census Bureau, at the following links:

Eau Claire, Wisconsin Census Bureau data:
Eau Claire County, Wisconsin - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder

Wausau, Wisconsin Census Bureau data:
Marathon County, Wisconsin - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder


Eau Claire has a slightly smaller “Average Family Size” of 2.84 persons, compared to Wausau at 3.03, and the national average is 3.20.

Marathon County (which is Wausau’s county) has a larger population base, of 130,223, as compared to Eau Claire County at 93,836.

Interestingly enough, when you compare the ratio of males to females for both counties, they are very close, but there are a slightly higher percentage of females in Eau Claire county, by .6%.

Marathon County has a slightly larger base of civilian veterans, as well as those citizens with disability status. There are slightly more foreign born people in Marathon county. The labor force of Marathon county is larger, and there are less families and individuals below poverty level in Marathon County. This is probably because the median family income is also slightly larger for Marathon County.

There are quite a few more occupied housing units in Marathon County, but also are more vacant housing units in Marathon County. More of the owner-occupied and renter-occupied housing units are located in Eau Claire county. It costs slightly more in Eau Claire county as far as monthly owner costs goes, including mortgaged and non-mortgaged dollars.

Lastly, the demographics show that there are slightly more Caucasian people in Eau Claire county, by .9%; slightly more Black or African American people by .2%; more American Indian and Alaskan Native people by .4%; and slightly more Hispanic or Latino (of any race) people by .2%, but significantly less Asian people by 1.5%. The number of people of two or more races, or those of a different race than mentioned above, is equal, percentage-wise between the two counties.

These are the demographical, statistical comparisons of the two counties, directly from the “American FactFinder” sheet of the U.S. Census Bureau, as referenced above.

I will try to put less statistical data in my next post to you, and compare more variables, if my cold gets any better.

I hope this information was helpful, although it was pretty dry stuff. I have visited Wausau and it is a fine city, but my personal preference is Eau Claire.

Sincerely,
Danica

[mpaul54701]

I've lived in both Wausau and Eau Claire....Wausau for 12 months and Eau Claire for 14 years. I dig Wausau because you can get to pretty much anywhere else in the state within 2 hours. That, and they have a pretty good (for the Midwest) ski hill right in town. Closest skiing to Eau Claire is an hour away, and not as good as Granite Peak. Economically, I think Wausau has the edge. It just seems to have higher growth/lower unemployment than EC most times I see reports that come out.

But I think EC's culture level is higher than Wausau. I attribute this to the fact that EC has a bustling UW school with 12,000 students bringing all their talents, creativity, etc into town. UWEC's music and education programs are really strong. I'm biased, but I think Eau Claire's public schools are some of the best in the state.

Except for the skiing thing, the two are about equal for outdoor activities. Both have good city and county parks, both have rivers running through town, both have enthusiasts who do a wide variety of things; you just need to find people with similar interests!

[Signora]

Thank you! There is a possibility that Eau Claire might be an upcoming move and right now we are in Wausau. My family and I really like Wausau's family activities and we have been enjoying the ski hill (though the last place we were it took over 2 hours to get to a decent hill... so that wouldn't be the deciding factor). It was easier for me to find info on Wausau when we were going to move here (pics and all) than info on Eau Claire.

Any info is, of course, appreciated. I am also very happy to hear why people have a personal preference of one over the other....

Thanks!