Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Wisconsin > Madison
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-14-2022, 07:45 AM
 
53 posts, read 31,959 times
Reputation: 48

Advertisements

Lived in Madison until 2011, then moved to coastal CA until 2020, when I moved to upstate NY. The healthcare access and quality in upstate NY are very poor. We have an opportunity to move back to Madison, so I’m curious how it has changed? Previously lived off Maple Grove on the SW side. Wishing I had held onto my house because I see housing costs went way up. We have a 4 yo daughter and a son on the way. We left CA because we didn’t like the materialistic culture. I’m into organic gardening and have a little free library. Salary will be around $120k in Madison with a SAHM too. Where would you recommend we look at neighborhoods to live in currently? How has the area changed since 2011?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-16-2022, 01:36 PM
 
Location: WI
3,961 posts, read 10,960,252 times
Reputation: 2503
Hi OP. We are from the area but from ‘09 to ‘14 lived out of state. First thing we noticed when we returned was the higher levels of crime. And that was 8 yrs ago, on that front it seems even worse. Noting that many areas may have seen increases and I wont start discussions on who is to blame as there are other forums for that. But car theft, shootings etc have increased in Madison; appears to happen more on the north side and southwest, but it can and does happen near everywhere. Only pointing this all out as that should be part of a discussion on what areas to consider and perhaps now what ones to potentially avoid.
Madison still has a lot to offer, but for my .02 the crime is the biggest concern.

For housing info you can look at sites like realtor.com to see what is out there. And yes it has been a crazy market.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2022, 05:39 PM
 
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,940 posts, read 36,707,217 times
Reputation: 40634
I moved away 20 years ago, but I go back at least once a year as my closest friends I've made there.

It's grown. A lot. It's gotten much bigger. Really, pretty much all the population growth and job growth in Wisconsin is in Madison metro area, and it shows. That comes with more crime, traffic, etc, but that's mostly relatively stable per capita. Still an incredibly safe city.

It's definitely become more affluent in some ways, more bistros, small plate places, hipster places. Fewer older dives (rip okayz, etc). When I lived there the action was state street and much of the storefronts up along the capitol square and the sidestreets. That's switched quite a bit.

East Wash is a sea of new construction. Old buildings torn down and these big places with retail on ground and floors of apartments above are all over. UW has done really well with the fundraising and their building spree has shown it. Everytime I go out to Spring Green (in that direction) the growth/sprawl of the urban core into what used to be farmland is truly remarkable.

Rents have seemingly gone crazy.

Last edited by timberline742; 08-16-2022 at 06:12 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2022, 09:39 PM
 
1,082 posts, read 2,633,356 times
Reputation: 697
Up significantly. https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/u...ate-statistics

https://www.channel3000.com/we-have-...emain-on-edge/
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-17-2022, 07:50 AM
 
53 posts, read 31,959 times
Reputation: 48
Thank you for the crime insight. The macrotrends website is useful. I looked up our current city of residence and the violent crime rate is 726, compared to Madison’s 404, and we still feel safe here. Since the latest data is 2018, I’m curious to see what the 2021 rates are given a huge crime increase nationwide post pandemic.

Are the crimes mostly focused in certain neighborhoods within the north & SW? I previously lived off Maple Grove Ct and we had no issues in 2009-2011. Nearly all violent crime where we currently live is people who know each other, not random, curious if that is mostly the case in Madison too? From the articles I can find it appears likely violence occurs with victim/suspect knowing each other. Is there a crime map to lookup for Madison metro? That would be very helpful!

Curious where most of the transplants have come from this past decade, that could be helpful to know. MN? Chicago? MI? Has the political scene become more polarized? Last I lived there it was the Union bargaining rights protests taking over the Capitol building.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-17-2022, 08:13 AM
 
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,940 posts, read 36,707,217 times
Reputation: 40634
Quote:
Originally Posted by EastViaWest View Post
Thank you for the crime insight. The macrotrends website is useful. I looked up our current city of residence and the violent crime rate is 726, compared to Madison’s 404, and we still feel safe here. Since the latest data is 2018, I’m curious to see what the 2021 rates are given a huge crime increase nationwide post pandemic.

Are the crimes mostly focused in certain neighborhoods within the north & SW? I previously lived off Maple Grove Ct and we had no issues in 2009-2011. Nearly all violent crime where we currently live is people who know each other, not random, curious if that is mostly the case in Madison too? From the articles I can find it appears likely violence occurs with victim/suspect knowing each other. Is there a crime map to lookup for Madison metro? That would be very helpful!

Curious where most of the transplants have come from this past decade, that could be helpful to know. MN? Chicago? MI? Has the political scene become more polarized? Last I lived there it was the Union bargaining rights protests taking over the Capitol building.
Yes, still the case. If you're not involved in gangs or drugs, you're almost certainly going to be safe.

There is lots of fear mongering, mostly from rural conservatives, almost all off base. No one in their right mind would consider Madison remotely dangerous. Madison crime growth reflects (modestly) the boom in the entire metro area population (Madison MSA), nothing more. It's still very low, as you've noticed.

It's one of the best communities in America to live in, and really the only attractive one in Wisconsin for educated professionals wanting career growth and culture.

Last edited by timberline742; 08-17-2022 at 08:25 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2022, 10:51 AM
 
Location: Mequon, WI
8,275 posts, read 22,985,270 times
Reputation: 5612



Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2022, 11:19 AM
 
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
4,608 posts, read 3,153,236 times
Reputation: 3890
Milwaukee City ( speaking to the contributor on here ):

You Negative Nancy, you!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2022, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
4,608 posts, read 3,153,236 times
Reputation: 3890
I have a BARE MINIMUM to contribute, but I will try. Keep in mind that I am NOT a Madison explorer; rather a go-to- Illinois guy.

My brother moved to Madison about 20 years ago. He lived not too far from the East Town Mall. He and his wife have 2 children. He said, about 15 years ago, when he went to the mall and a fist fight broke out right next to his table in the food court, he knew it was TIME TO GO.

He moved north to a suburb called Waunakee. The fist fight 15 years ago was a sign. He paid attention. SINCE 15 years ago there are more instances of drugs and violence and break ins.

All I can say is, in 40 + years I personally never heard about such behaviors in Madison. Yet I HAVE in the last 15 to 20.

Is there any reason to believe in the next 15 to 20 it will get BETTER???

My brother just needed a fist fight in a mall to be his sign. He is happy he followed this omen.

We all have different likes/dislikes. We all have different things we will tolerate/not tolerate.

Sounds like the lesson is: Go with whatever your gut tells you!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2022, 12:32 PM
 
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,940 posts, read 36,707,217 times
Reputation: 40634
Quote:
Originally Posted by Master Jay View Post
I have a BARE MINIMUM to contribute, but I will try. Keep in mind that I am NOT a Madison explorer; rather a go-to- Illinois guy.

My brother moved to Madison about 20 years ago. He lived not too far from the East Town Mall. He and his wife have 2 children. He said, about 15 years ago, when he went to the mall and a fist fight broke out right next to his table in the food court, he knew it was TIME TO GO.

He moved north to a suburb called Waunakee. The fist fight 15 years ago was a sign. He paid attention. SINCE 15 years ago there are more instances of drugs and violence and break ins.

All I can say is, in 40 + years I personally never heard about such behaviors in Madison. Yet I HAVE in the last 15 to 20.

Is there any reason to believe in the next 15 to 20 it will get BETTER???

My brother just needed a fist fight in a mall to be his sign. He is happy he followed this omen.

We all have different likes/dislikes. We all have different things we will tolerate/not tolerate.

Sounds like the lesson is: Go with whatever your gut tells you!
There are way more people in the MSA, so yes, there are going to be more of everything. More bike shops and restaurants, more drugs and fights. I lived out nearish East Town in the late 90s and there were plenty of incidents there then as well.

Re a burning cop car. That's not change. There has been a wonderful history of protest going back to before I was born, over 50 years, in Madison. That's a constant. You know the people protesting the Vietnam war were denigrated as "Communists" and lawless Anti American troublemakers 50+ years ago (and look, in retrospect they were absolutely correct in their anti Vietnam war protests), and a couple of years back, those that protesting to say that black lives matter were seen as the same (and, call me crazy, I think in 50 years people are going to look back and say, hey, black lives actually DO matter). Again, not change, that's consistency.

This also makes me wonder what cities in Wisconsin people prefer? Last fall I did one of my normal visits and went to stay with friends. Reedsburg: 80% of the 20 somethings I saw were drugged out. Viroqua (friend is in Alpine), over half. LaCrosse could be renamed Methcrosse. There are drugs all over, it's just that Milwaukee and Madison have more than enough "other" and culture to offset it.

Last edited by timberline742; 08-21-2022 at 01:30 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Wisconsin > Madison

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top