Waterloo vs Madison, WI - where to live? (Sun Prairie, Beaver Dam: low income, best towns)

[veekasaurus]

I'm interested in information about Waterloo vs Madison, WI.

* Do people that work in Waterloo generally live in Waterloo, or in the surrounding areas? (this may be hard to answer, but thought I'd ask anyway!)
* How are the schools in Waterloo? I've read that the Madison schools are highly rated and that's very appealing, but I can't find much information about Waterloo.
* Could we live in Madison & commute to Waterloo? (especially curious about the winter months). If Madison is too far to commute, any other suggestions of bigger towns to live in?
* What are some of the best towns for a family with young children?
* Any other thoughts from people familiar to the area?
* Any differences in the weather between the two areas? (Sorry if this sounds naive, but I've just started researching WI. The winter would be an adjustment for me as I've been in Seattle for 20 years, but my husband assures me I'd get used to it.....)

We have two boys - age 5 & 3. Both are in preschool now, but the oldest will start kindergarten next year, so a good school system and a family friendly area is a high priority.

We live in Seattle now. My husband went to college in Madison and loved it and wants to return to the area. I like the idea of a smaller town, but Waterloo seems very small, (especially compared to Seattle), so Madison is more appealing, but I'm not sure if it's feasible. If we move, we definitely want to avoid any sort of difficult commute, as Seattle traffic is quite bad.

Thank you!

[JoshB]

My parents don't live to far from Waterloo. My mom and dad both commute to Madison via 19 and 151. The winter months are like any other Wisconsin road they'll have snow and ice but are usually cleaned up in a few days time. Waterloo is pretty nice it's fairly small. Great rural area, many friendly down to earth folks.

[gold*dust1]

I also knew of someone who commuted from Waterloo to Madison and didn't think it was a big deal. It would be way to far for me. Houses will be cheaper there in general. Just an FYI, I heard from my kids as they know a friend of a friend story, and there is a drug element in that town with low income housing etc. not that this would affect you, but just to say it isn't absoultely pristine.

[Alt Dach]

Madison and Waterloo are about as different as 2 cities can be.

[JoshB]

As alt said it. You really can't compare both cities as Waterloo is a small Ag town that has maybe 2K people. Madison on the other hand has what 250K? Plus all the suburbs etc.

[Alt Dach]

One is a gritty crime ridden blue collar slaughter house place, the other one of the yuppist major cities in the USA -home to one of the worlds greatest universities and the state capitol-I can see virtually nothing in common except in midwest.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by Alt Dach

One is a gritty crime ridden blue collar slaughter house place, the other one of the yuppist major cities in the USA -home to one of the worlds greatest universities and the state capitol-I can see virtually nothing in common except in midwest.

Too funny, so I guess that drug element I was talking about rings true!

[veekasaurus]

I'm not worried about Madison at all since my husband went to college there and loved it. It's definitely a less expensive place to live compared to Seattle and that would be a plus.

Is Waterloo seriously a "gritty crime ridden, etc" place?! If so, are there suburbs of Madison or other small towns in between that would be better for a family?

I guess if something materializes with a job, we will have to see for ourselves. There's not a whole lot of information about it on the internet and so while Madison is the known, Waterloo is definitely the unknown.

Thanks for the replies!

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by veekasaurus

I'm not worried about Madison at all since my husband went to college there and loved it. It's definitely a less expensive place to live compared to Seattle and that would be a plus.

Is Waterloo seriously a "gritty crime ridden, etc" place?! If so, are there suburbs of Madison or other small towns in between that would be better for a family?

I guess if something materializes with a job, we will have to see for ourselves. There's not a whole lot of information about it on the internet and so while Madison is the known, Waterloo is definitely the unknown.

Thanks for the replies!

Curious as to why you're considering Waterloo in the first place? It just isn't associated with Madison that often. We have many small towns and a few actual "suburbs" of Madison. In the general vicinity of Waterloo towards Madison are Marshall, Deerfield, Cambridge, Lake Mills, Beaver Dam, Cottage Grove, and Sun Prairie. Of those I would only consider living in Sun Prairie and possibly Cottage Grove. Good luck!

[JoshB]

Originally Posted by veekasaurus

I'm not worried about Madison at all since my husband went to college there and loved it. It's definitely a less expensive place to live compared to Seattle and that would be a plus.

Is Waterloo seriously a "gritty crime ridden, etc" place?! If so, are there suburbs of Madison or other small towns in between that would be better for a family?

I guess if something materializes with a job, we will have to see for ourselves. There's not a whole lot of information about it on the internet and so while Madison is the known, Waterloo is definitely the unknown.

Thanks for the replies!

I would look at towns like Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, Cross Plains, Oregon, etc. I personally like Cross Plains the best, the topography of the area yet close to the west side of Madison. What more could you ask for?