"I'm moving before next winter..." (Milwaukee, Madison: apartment, rent)

[adr3naline]

In Wisconsin, it's common to threaten a cross-country move during the dead of winter. Winters are long, seemingly void of sunlight, and capable of breaking your ice scraper in April. If you've ever spent a full winter in WI, you've surely heard the line: "I'm moving before next winter. You just watch me!"

It usually becomes conversation in late February, often started by the same people of the years prior. Everyone will agree, reminiscing about those 5 days back in January they spent in Florida. Then Spring shows it's face and everyone welcomes the forgotten sunshine. After which a pack of brats are thrown on the grill, cold brews are cracked, and someone stares off into a beautiful lake with a smile on their face, spouting "I love WI. Why would I live anywhere else?". And it's a good question. Wisconsin summers really are fantastic. So all is well for the next 6 months as you tour local breweries, hit the beach, see killer bands at Summerfest, try to get your relatives to buy a cabin with you, and everything else made urgent by the limiting time-box that is WI weather.

...and then November rolls around.

Only your niece Rebecca has made the leap because she was accepted at a university in the South. You're left to confide in your friends, revisiting your pact to move out of the tundra. "Certainly before next winter", you'll say.

I just couldn't be that guy anymore. I had to make the leap. Sick of listening to my own broken record and enticed by the un-guaranteed happiness of warmer climate, I have sold my stake in WI and moved to Los Angeles CA. The people here are weird, the traffic is laughably horrendous, and I'm paying $3000/mo for a small closet of an apartment. But it's 72*F and sunny every day--exactly what I yearned for while living in Milwaukee. Here, areas like the beach are oddly scarce, given there's no urgency for locals to get out and enjoy it while it lasts. Instead, they're complaining about the lack of seasonality and reminiscing about their trip to Denver back in January.

Was it worth it? Eh...too early to tell. Ask me once November rolls around.

- Adr3naline

[TosaJoe]

Weather was absolutely spectacular in the MKE area today.

[cfbs2691]

Good luck on your new adventure OP!
Keep us posted?

[thefragile]

Ok, great.

[zoomkay]

Good luck with your new adventure! I love Los Angeles, so I am slightly jealous!

[adr3naline]

Go figure it's actually warmer in MKE than LA right now.

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

Was it worth it? Eh...too early to tell. Ask me once November rolls around.

- Adr3naline

Yep, best decision I've ever made.

[brrabbit]

Glad, it worked for you!


I lived in Milwaukee WI before moving to Los Angeles CA, did not want to move there in the first place (too much liberals down there!), found things I love to do and people I like to be with, but once I lost my top-paying job (that forced me to move to LA), I couldn't justify cost of living there and found decent-paying job back in Milwaukee.


And now my in-laws are moving from LA too They couldn't afford living in WeHo and paying 3K for a closet called an apartment, and they did not like summers in SFV too much.


But well, there are 2 kinds of people - those who loves where they live (or move where they love to live), and those that complain about the places they live (no matter where they live). Glad you found your place to love!

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by brrabbit

Glad, it worked for you!


I lived in Milwaukee WI before moving to Los Angeles CA, did not want to move there in the first place (too much liberals down there!), found things I love to do and people I like to be with, but once I lost my top-paying job (that forced me to move to LA), I couldn't justify cost of living there and found decent-paying job back in Milwaukee.


And now my in-laws are moving from LA too They couldn't afford living in WeHo and paying 3K for a closet called an apartment, and they did not like summers in SFV too much.


But well, there are 2 kinds of people - those who loves where they live (or move where they love to live), and those that complain about the places they live (no matter where they live). Glad you found your place to love!

Thanks! The rising cost of rent in SoCal is definitely crippling to long-term financial security, so I can see why your relatives are packing up.

[EnjoyEP]

This is a very good, accurate post by the Original Poster in terms of quality of life in the Milwaukee area as defined by climate in comparison to a sunnier, warmer year-round clime.

Overall, I am much more pro Milwaukee than against its cons, however, the weather certainly needs to be a consideration for individuals who haven't lived in Milwaukee or Wisconsin or the far Upper Midwest for a majority of their lives. Winters can be quite gray, quite cold, and I think the hardest part about the weather here is that the concept of "spring" is often times only that of a concept. March tends to still be a winter month, and April/May/early June can frequently be very chilly, still quite gray, and very wet

I have often stated that if Milwaukee's winter was confined to primarily December through early March, one could take the winter and in fact perhaps even embrace it: there is something to be said for a period of snow (which can be fun) and cold (which can do helpful things such as killing off the bugs and insects that are not killed off in warmer climes). However, typically cabin fever really sets in in the Milwaukee area in March, April, May, and early June, when you watch the Weather Channel and see that spring has sprung in much of the rest of the U.S. and there are still dank "blues" (indicating chilly weather) surrounding Milwaukee and much of the rest of the state.

Also, Lake Michigan's cooling effects are often the most cruel in the "spring" months, as you might get inland (say, an hour or so into Madison only) and have a nice, 70 degree spring day that, as you get east into Milwaukee, can turn into a cool, damp 59 degree windy day. The "Lake Effect" may be a welcome respite in the winter and the summer, but in the spring it can unnecessarily postpone/delay the well-earned break of warmer weather.

Again, I am overall quite pro the Milwaukee area - weather and taxes aside - so my post is not an attempt to knock Milwaukee or Wisconsin. However, I truly do feel that for folks that are not used to this climate, it needs to really be experienced/understood prior to moving here/living here, because it really can bring on the blues in otherwise normal, well adjusted individuals!

The tough part though is that to really experience the cons of the Milwaukee/Wisconsin climate, you need to live in the area for the bulk of the year. Just visiting in a winter month for a week or two does not do the harshness and longevity of the area winter justice.

Take it from a guy who lived in the comparatively sunny, temperate climes of Albuquerque, NM for about four years and still came back to WI to visit often. It is amazing how deceptive short exposures to the Wisconsin winter can be...you get a feeling of, "wow, that wasn't so bad"...but again, it tends not to be any one day(s) in particular, but the sum of the parts of the long, cold/chilly/gray/gloomy season.

Having said all of this, it is hard to top Milwaukee's climate from mid-June until mid-November. Autumns in Milwaukee tend to be much drier, sunnier and more temperate than the "springs" are, and in fact, possibly the nicest month of the year in the Milwaukee area is September.

Summers are often humid and can get fairly warm, however, in general are much more temperate than in many areas of the nation.

I wouldn't say that the climate/winter should rule anyone out from living in the Milwaukee area, but like the Original Poster alluded to, it can be a back-breaker for some/(many?) and is a factor that should not be discounted or taken lightly.