wausau area (Appleton, Oshkosh, Franklin: best city, crime, houses)

[anteangie]

I am a nursing student with one year to go. I live in small town wisconsin and am married with two kids 5, and 7. We want to move when I finish school to somewhere with more to offer my children. What are the stats for schools, and crime in the wausau are? I see the dc everest district has good elementary schools, where do those kids go to high school and middle school? Are there any gang or drug issues that I should be aware of? What does wausau offer families?

[ekg56]

Everest has its own brand new middle school and also a high school. There are 2 hospitals in the area. Wausau has a great art museum, concerts on the square in summer. There are many parks, skiing, water sports.
In Wausau there are some gang problems. But nothing major.

[anteangie]

Thanks for the info. Which community in the wausau area do you think is best for a young family.

[tet tea]

You could look at Weston. Great schools and lots to do in the area, plus the taxes are cheaper than Wausau.

[ekg56]

Weston and Kronenwetter are both good. Weston is in the DC Everest school district and Kronenwetter is split between Everest and Mosinee schools. I live Kronenwetter and my kids went to Mosinee schools.
Another area that is nice is around Rib Mountain although it is more congested and never ending construction on Highway 39 but their are ways around it.

[hankejp]

I live in the Weston area with a daughter in grade school and another in H.S. The schools are great. A lot of emphasis on sports in the D.C. Everest area. It is about a 20 minute drive to the northwest sid of Wausau, via the highway.Taxes are cheaper if not the cheapest in the Wausau area. All the communities in the area are nice. Just stay out of the downtown area. That seems to be where most of the issues are. Pleanty of homes forsale of all price ranges. The community by the Wausau Airport is a nice area, with older and cheaper homes. These are nice houses, just a little old.

[andy1987]

Wausau has been rated one of the safest cities in the nation, and i very seldom see a "gang." I use quotes because they are usually made up of 15 year-olds who think they're tough but never really do anything. As for schools, I'd say any of the local public schools would do your children well. I myself attended Franklin Elementary on Wausau's east side, which I remember fondly. My father is a teacher at Weston Elementary which is also a good school I've seen. The Weston/ Schofield/ Rothschild/ Kronenwetter areas are all nice as well. In my opinion, all surrounding areas should just become Wausau because they're literally connected and none would have thrived without Wausau.

I would say Wausau is an excellent choice for an RN. With various hospitals, the most notable of which is Aspirus, you should easily be able to find a job. Here is their job application site www.aspirusjobs.org . I was once hired through it for a part-time summer job.

Anyways, if you do come to the Wausau area, I think you'll be very happy. Plenty to do, and very safe.

[famlife]

wausau is excellent. there's no "bad areas" of town, maybe just a run down strip of houses in a few locations... it's very, very safe.. i'd feel perfectly safe walking anywhere in town at night. there's nice shops, too. they even have a little natural foods mini grocery store downtown. the downtown is thriving, even growing. a cool historical district.. the grand theater... and i think that marathon park still has their 4th of july carnival at marathon park for the whole 4th of july week.. they have fireworks every night up to the 4th, also games and rides, bands and demolition derbys, etc all week! it's just crazy fun. wausau is the nicest, safest and overall best city of it's size that i've ever been to or lived in. also, it has a lot of awesome churches.

i wish i could live there again!

[No1footballmom]

Originally Posted by anteangie

I am a nursing student with one year to go. I live in small town wisconsin and am married with two kids 5, and 7. We want to move when I finish school to somewhere with more to offer my children. What are the stats for schools, and crime in the wausau are? I see the dc everest district has good elementary schools, where do those kids go to high school and middle school? Are there any gang or drug issues that I should be aware of? What does wausau offer families?

Angie,

I just moved back to Superior (born and raised here) from Stevens Point / Plover area. I'm going to suggest you look towards something like Oshkosh / Appleton or in that area. The reason I suggest this is because my husband worked in the field of and worked with juvenile delinquents. There was much talk and experience with a large problem developing AND getting out of hand with Asian gangs in Wausau.

Now I'm NOT saying Wausau is the plague and should be avoided (for those who live there..) I'm just saying it has it's issues. I also was not impressed with the "industrial" feel of the area. It always seemed to me when I went through that it was more of a "industrial" area and was...and seemed...well almost dirty when I came off the off ramps and went into the town...NO offense Wausau - just something you might want to talk to your city planners about and how to make the city more "appealing" to someone passing through. Also maybe how to give those areas a "face-lift". They've done it here in Superior over the past few years and wow does it make a difference!

There IS a lot of shopping lots of varieties, etc in Wausau and they do put on a nice fair during the summer.

Thats what I can tell you about Wausau and my experience with it and like I said, I think Oshkosh / Appleton area really appealed to me more and I have a friend who lives in a small town just outside of it (so she's accessable to all the good things) and she LOVES it.

Good luck on your decision. I hope you enjoy where-ever you live.

[southsiderider520]

gangs in wausau, ha ha lol all there is in wausau is fakes some people act like there tough cause chicago and milwaukee are nearby but, there is no gangs here.None.