Milwaukee Vs Madison? Job situation? (house prices, college, wages)

[liveurdream]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Not to get too far off of topic but I will, that "rich" requirement seems to be getting lower and lower. First you had to have a million dollars to be considered rich now we find out it's 250,000 gross income a year or 125K per couple. Now in news articles all across the nation they say $75,000 is rich or in their own words..."for the vast majority of families that don't make $75,000 or more" so I guess if your wife make $37,500 and you make $37,500 you are considered rich. Are we lowering the bar that much these days? There are numerous jobs that you can get without a college degree that pay well over $37,500 so when I hear people complain about money or how their life turned out I really wonder how "bad" they really tried to get a good job in life. To me it is not that hard to have a household income of $100,000. A UPS driver and CNC Machinist could do that. I guess what I am trying to say is that there is no excuse for people not to have a decent life money wise you would have to stop spending $8 bucks on cigarettes and make some personal decisions though like start using coupons or only buying a house that you can afford comfortably instead of buying at your max of $350K. There is no shame in buying a house for 100,000 and paying it off in 15 years. People tend to account for money on a yearly or monthly basis but you should really do it over a life time. For instance as an example: two houses, one has property taxes of $6,000 a year and the other $2,500. now assuming you buy a house when your 30 and you own the house until you're 80 which is now very common. the $6,000/yr property tax house would be $300,000 over your life time compared to $125,000 on $2,500 a year for property taxes. What could you do with $175,000 extra dollars over a life time? it would make retirement easier. This is just basic back of the napkin financial planning. Now take cigs or the $1,200 you spend a year on cable after 10 years that's a new car not a lexus but a new car with cash and no interest and no payment.

Let's say you get a job at 18 and work until you're 70 and lets put your average salary of $40,000 over a lifetime, it will be less early on but more later on so for the sake of this argument. That's 52 working years @40K = 2,080,000 Million dollars over a working lifetime, how will you manage your millions?

Trust me, I don't even consider a person with a million dollars in the bank rich. But society classifies you at a specific income level for classes.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by Moving_South

but as you point out that doesn't necessarily mean that such elements of big city life will effect someone moving to Milwaukee.

I do think that a lower-income or low-middle income person will have an easier time avoiding the pitfalls of crime & gangs and poorer public schools in Madison that in Milwaukee though. In Milwaukee you need a little more money to avoid that stuff than in Madison

I disagree with you a little on this last point, Cudahy, South Milwaukee, St Francis, Butler, West Allis, Greenfield, Wauwatosa, Oak Creek, Meno Falls are all areas that have very affordable housing and virtually no crime and good to very good schools. You could live on the south side of Milwaukee which has good to great public grade and elementary schools it's when you get into high schools that your options fall off but that isn't a Milwaukee specific problem it's a big city problem as you will find this to be true in all big cities in the US. Some schools have certain open enrollment so even if you live in the city you can send your kid to a suburban school just a few blocks away for instance.

Just out of curiosity does madison only have 3 public high schools and just a few private ones. The only HS's I have ever heard of in Madison are west/east and memorial. So I take it they are all high enrollment 1,000 and up?

[TeamDRK]

I think you'd be surprised by how little some jobs pay anymore.

In Madison, the constant influx of young people to jobs does seem to keep the expected salaries down. I have seen people take jobs in programming for as little as $30k.

In the same town, I have done personal caretaking of disabled adults, taught computer skills in a needy neighborhood, and did clerical and IT work at the University. The jobs at the university, paid less than $30k/year*, and the jobs before that paid even less. Granted. . I wasn't thinking about money when I did all of these jobs, and none of them required a BA. BA-required jobs at the UW can also pay shockingly little, more than $35k but often less than $50k. Now with my eyes open to the value of an IT career, I have been developing a portfolio with the hopes of progressing in my financial life.


It is a beautiful city, but it's frustrating to continue to be offered low pay AND maybe a lower level of work than I would in a city that is not raining in graduates.

*Yes, some people at the university did used to make good money, I worked with clerical staff there who were making over $50k due to union-bartered step raises -- these raises were available to people who got into the system many many years ago, and would not have been available to a recent hire.



My fiance is smart and has a good resume, but he hasn't been able to find a job in Madison that pays more than $35k. He made $45k alone in Milwaukee in his first year out of college.

[Milwaukee City]

Originally Posted by TeamDRK

In Madison, the constant influx of young people to jobs does seem to keep the expected salaries down.

That well could be an everlasting problem. That's like having a walmart right next to the unemployment office. There's a class graduating 3 times a year, that's a lot of fresh bodies.

[Moving_South]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Just out of curiosity does madison only have 3 public high schools and just a few private ones. The only HS's I have ever heard of in Madison are west/east and memorial. So I take it they are all high enrollment 1,000 and up?

4 Public High Schools: West, Memorial, East, and LaFollette. And yes they are all high enrollment (I believe they might all be over 1,500 and are certainly over 1,000) and yes they are all somewhat in decline in quality. Madison West remains one of the state's best public high schools.

[liveurdream]

Originally Posted by TeamDRK

I think you'd be surprised by how little some jobs pay anymore.

In Madison, the constant influx of young people to jobs does seem to keep the expected salaries down. I have seen people take jobs in programming for as little as $30k.

In the same town, I have done personal caretaking of disabled adults, taught computer skills in a needy neighborhood, and did clerical and IT work at the University. The jobs at the university, paid less than $30k/year*, and the jobs before that paid even less. Granted. . I wasn't thinking about money when I did all of these jobs, and none of them required a BA. BA-required jobs at the UW can also pay shockingly little, more than $35k but often less than $50k. Now with my eyes open to the value of an IT career, I have been developing a portfolio with the hopes of progressing in my financial life.


It is a beautiful city, but it's frustrating to continue to be offered low pay AND maybe a lower level of work than I would in a city that is not raining in graduates.

*Yes, some people at the university did used to make good money, I worked with clerical staff there who were making over $50k due to union-bartered step raises -- these raises were available to people who got into the system many many years ago, and would not have been available to a recent hire.



My fiance is smart and has a good resume, but he hasn't been able to find a job in Madison that pays more than $35k. He made $45k alone in Milwaukee in his first year out of college.

Yes that is a problem Madison has and it is very real.

[Packersngolf]

Consider moving out of the state. We lived in Wis. most of our lives, but honestly, we are doing much better after moving.

[Kchomps]

Originally Posted by TeamDRK

The economic situation in Madison is rough. The major employers are the state, the university, and Epic Systems. Epic doesn't really hire people who just finished college in their mid-30's, while the state and university are facing deep cuts. I lost a good position in a budget cut, and so did my sister. (My boss looked like he wanted to cry when he found out.)

The world outside of madison can be quite the reality, so when even taxpayer funded jobs in madison are at risk, it can be quite startling for someone used to madison's taxpayer sponging economy.

You're in your 30s and just graduated from college....with a BA?
Madison has blindsided you again. Good luck, but someone with a transgendered studies degree went to georgetown university's law school and now should be in line for some political position. Who says BAs are useless degrees? lol.

If you had a tech college degree in welding you could be making a lot of money and are in great demand. CNC types the same, but with even more on both counts. Last I heard was a few years ago, HVAC techs were getting 60K and people going out of state to find them.

If you're a web developer, does it matter where you live?

[Kchomps]

Wow, there's someone exactly like you in the madison section.

[TeamDRK]

Originally Posted by Kchomps

You're in your 30s and just graduated from college....with a BA?
Madison has blindsided you again. . .
If you had a tech college degree in welding you could be making a lot of money and are in great demand. CNC types the same, but with even more on both counts. Last I heard was a few years ago, HVAC techs were getting 60K and people going out of state to find them.

If you're a web developer, does it matter where you live?

yeah, the issue isn't even so much for me and my own degree as for my fiance's liberal arts degree.

I'm not a physical person and I'm a woman. I'm kind of small and weak so IT was appealing as it uses my brains but not my (nonexistent) physical strength.

It has occurred to me that in terms of my own career, I can telecommute or pick up freelance gigs. i have gotten some nice freelance gigs recently. I have been hoping to have a 'career' somewhere steady, which is why I completed the BA on top of my technical education.