Questions on moving to Iron County WI (Milwaukee, Wausau: home, schools)

[Chasidee]

I am considering relocating to Iron County WI. What are some of the major cities in this county and how is the area. Is it diversed? How are the schools? Are there sundown laws? I'm Asian so I'm wondering if this is a good option for me. I'm originally from California.

[Drover]

Is this a serious post? "Major" cities in Iron County? Diversity? It's in the middle of nowhere for chrissake.

Sundown laws? What is this, 1963?

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Chasidee

I am considering relocating to Iron County WI. What are some of the major cities in this county and how is the area. Is it diversed? How are the schools? Are there sundown laws? I'm Asian so I'm wondering if this is a good option for me. I'm originally from California.

Iron County has no cities. The biggest "town" in the county is Mercer, home to the Ding a Ling Supper Club. The bigger towns near that area are Minocqua/Woodruff, and Rhinelander.

[Chasidee]

Originally Posted by Drover

Is this a serious post? "Major" cities in Iron County? Diversity? It's in the middle of nowhere for chrissake.

Sundown laws? What is this, 1963?

Yes. A serious post. I have never been to or have ever known anyone from that area. So any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Drover]

So what would make you want to relocate to Iron County of all places? Certainly you have to know something about it if you're looking to relocate there. And you'd be one of the few, seeing how people are leaving Iron County much more rapidly than others are arriving. Which leads me to "insight" #1:

1) Iron County is in a slightly impoverished area. You won't see anything like the grinding poverty of the Appalachians or an Indian reservation out west, but it's a tough area to make a living. The area economy was built around logging, and those jobs are long gone. Seasonal tourism is about the only thing keeping the area from being a complete basketcase. That would explain why the population is shrinking.

2) Speaking of seasonal tourism, you'll see a lot of it in the area. Northern Wisconsin, especially those portions with a lot of interior lakes, is a popular tourist destination for people from the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. Being a part of the hospitality industry that caters to these tourists is about the best hope for making a living up there. Unfortunately, Iron County itself only sees a sliver of this tourism traffic because it doesn't have nearly the volume of inland lakes as neighboring Vilas County. There's a lot of money floating around Vilas County and Oneida County (which is directly south of Vilas) but not much of it gets as far west as Iron County.

3) You asked about diversity. You won't find it in rural Wisconsin, which is approximately 97% white. The other 3% consists of a few small Indian reservations and some Hmongs who were resettled in the Wausau and Fox Valley areas. Rural Wisconsin's culture is substantially influenced by German culture (particularly in the eastern half of the state) and Scandinavian culture (particularly on the western half), mainly Swedish and Norwegian.

4) And yes, Iron County is rural. The population of the entire county is just over 6,000. You inquired about major cities. The closest city of any consequence is Ashland which is in neighboring Ashland County. Ashland's population is about 8,000 and shrinking.

5) There are two national forests in the area that are about 1.5 million acres combined. They are the Chequomegon and Niolet forests (pronounced "Sheh-WAH-me-gon" and "nic-o-LAY" respectively). Technically the Forest Service considers them one single park but it's really divided into two seperate, noncontiugous parts. The Chequomegon portion is just west of Iron County. The Nicolet portion is further east.

[Drover]

Wait, weren't you moving to Coudersport PA? Are you sure you aren't a troll? Because I'm not...

[dontyoulookatme]

I believe Iron Co has the highest percentage of Italian Americans and Finnish Americans in the whole state by far. This is probably due to the thousands of Italian and the Finnish immigrants that moved to the UP. And I also believe Hurley is the most Italian town in the state. Thats gotta count for some diversity, especially for the North Woods. All i can say is good luck finding a job up there.

[Drover]

Oh yeah, don't forget that it's FKING COLD up there in winter. The average overnight low in January is about -2 degrees, so expect plenty of nights to dip into the double digits below zero.

[GraniteStater]

I was up there when it was -30F on a January ice fishing trip in Vilas County one year.

[susancruzs]

All I can say is strange choice, especially for a younger person. With the economy, things that Drover lists, not a time to move to the upper half of Wisconsin.

I moved to NE Wisconsin but would not have made a move out of Illinois in my younger days. A decent job is critical these days and certainly not easy to find. I wasn't looking for a job or I would not have moved.