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Cost of housing:
renting for less than $1000 in a not completely terrible part of town. Open to roommates/roomshare for $500-700.
Best grocery stores:
(in terms of quality, price, variety of products and produce) My favorite overall store where I'm at is Publix.
Overall food scene
Employment:
Most of my experience is in Call center/soft sales, with some in factory/assembly work.
Medical:
I will need a partial knee replacement at some point in the future, so excellent orthopedic surgeons/clinics would be nice.
Better experience during the winter:
I would define this as good upkeep of the city, things to do, overall look during the winter months. Some places look really run down and sad during the winter.
I have much more experience with Milwaukee and was surprised at how nice it was. There are some bad areas to avoid but affordable nonetheless outside of those places. Pleasant, easy place to live.
My knowledge of Cleveland comes from travel, passing through, and doing some work there.
It felt grittier and edgier than Milwaukee but still pretty cool.
For a place to live, Milwaukee.
They're pretty comparable. I'm quite happy in Milwaukee but I could also see us living happily in Cleveland. The cities themselves are quite similar but I envy Cleveland's public transit but we have the MUCH better Great Lake. Cleveland has Cuyahoga National Park nearby but we have Chicago.
I really don't think you can make a wrong choice here.
Two of my favorite cities. No bad choice. Transit in Cleveland is probably better. If you live on the west side, you can minimize the bad effects of winter (of course it still is cold and snowy, but there is a noticeable difference between west and east). Heinen's in Cleveland is a great grocery store. Don't know enough specifics about life in Milwaukee since I haven't lived there, but it's a pretty cool place as well.
They're pretty comparable. I'm quite happy in Milwaukee but I could also see us living happily in Cleveland. The cities themselves are quite similar but I envy Cleveland's public transit but we have the MUCH better Great Lake. Cleveland has Cuyahoga National Park nearby but we have Chicago.
I really don't think you can make a wrong choice here.
Good points... Yes I think Lake Michigan is more accessible and beach-ier than Lake Erie, esp near downtown. And we don't have to talk about how historically bad Cleveland has been toward making its lake in-around downtown more attractive residentially a la a Milwaukee and (esp) Chicago. ... but Cleveland's Edgewater Park, about 2-3 miles west of downtown (plus little Whisky Island, which is just off downtown) are improving rapidly. But Cleveland is improving in this area, slowly but surely, and while the City doesn't have a river-walk comparable to Milwaukee's, but my perception is that the Flats, along the Cuyahoga River, though much smaller, is a bit livelier esp on weekends. Both Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River, despite their infamous industrial pasts of several decades ago, have been cleaned up significantly so to the extent that they have been granted awards by national fresh water organizations and are now attractive for swimming (at Edgewater and the few other city beaches), sailing and water sports. There are even jet ski, paddle boat and canoe rentals right downtown.
But no question having a great old mid-to-high rise neighborhood like the Lower East Side really gives Milwaukee a strong umph. Ohio City is kinda-sorta similar and is growing a lot, but it's different. Each have their own strengths but it's hard to compare them. Overall it seems CLE may have a few more walkable mixed-use retail districts than Milwaukee but both cities have similarities in this area.
Cleveland's Lakewood and Milwaukee's Shorewood are very similar old, middle/upper middle class, close-in lakeshore suburbs. Lakewood is probably a bit more diverse, income-wise, as there are a few more marginal areas along its lower eastern border.
Overall though, I find them to be very similar Midwestern cities.
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