Menomonie or Rice Lake (Milwaukee, Madison: rental car, apartments, rental)

[BadgerNut]

Can anyone share some insite on Menomonie or Rice Lake? I'm looking into some cities to move to and would appreciate all the help and information you all could share with me. Housing costs, taxes, things to do, jobs. My children are home schooled so I'm not worried about schooling. Thanks in advance for your help.

[disneyrecords]

I live in River Falls and have been to both recently.
Menomonie is a lot like River Falls in that it is a college town. Menomonie's economy and main industry is centered around the University (UW-Stout) There is also a distribution center for WalMart. Located on the Red Cedar Trail, you can walk, bike, or rollerblade all the way to Eau Claire if you desire. Although far flung from the twin cities, it could be considered east metro St Paul. I know of a few commuters who make that trip daily. Personally, I think it is quite a ways away.

Rice Lake is shopping hub, sawmill area, industrial center considered a bright spot in the Indianhead area. Located on and very close to other recreational lakes and forests, Rice Lake offers many opportunities target at the outdoor enthusiast. Rice Lake is more blue collar than Menomonie.

Cost of living would be higher in Menomonie over Rice Lake due to location near the twin cities, on the interstate, etc. More trees and lakes around Rice Lake. Toss up, both would be nice places to live. Check them out.

[BadgerNut]

Thanks disneyrecords that's very helpful.

[ndheah]

I live in Menomonie currently, and I am moving in May to somewhere else...Wife and I are thinking Denver or Charleston actually...Anyway, Menomonie is an alright town, it's a college town, expect to pay high rent due to all the college kids getting all the apartments. Currently we pay $500 / month for 375sq feet, granted we are on campass for the most part, thus the higher rent.

Menomonie doesn't have much to offer though, only one decent bar (Log Jam) the night life is filled with college kids, and the summers are awefully slow, the lake is polluted, no place to shop(Hope you like Wal-Mart). If it wasn't for Eau Claire being so close I'd go mad...

Menomonie is a fine town if you are old, boring, and set in your ways. If you are looking for any sort of normal, fun life, move on.

[#Littledog]

My friend just re-located to Rice Lake from the Milwaukee area and loves it. She also plans on homeschooling her children so there's at least a small community of homeschoolers in Rice Lake.

[MSPLove]

I'm so glad I found this website!
I'm going to be making a move from Montana to Wisconsin next year (late summer 2010, just in time for winter, haha!). Montana is nice in many respects, but just not for me. If you look at a map, there are a handful of bigger cities, spread really far apart, with not a lot in between. It's a little too desolate for me in that respect. Even their so-called "bigger cities" are hardly Minneapolis. lol You have go go all the way to Spokane or Seattle, Washington to get any real excitement. It's also rockier than Wisconsin. I much prefer the abundance of lakes and trees in Wisconsin. They've got a lot of trees here, but they're mostly large pine scattered in the mountain ranges. People are friendlier in Wisconsin. When we first moved here, we thought people were flat-out rude. But as you get used to it, you realize it's not really THAT. But there IS a "closed-offness" about people here. They're not as open. It's indescribable and something you just have to experience.

I am originally from Wisconsin. I was born and raised there until I was almost 14, then we moved here to Montana. I spent my first six years in the tiny tow n of Radisson and ages 6 to 14 in Rice Lake. I am now 2 months away from turning 30, and I have decided I would like to move back to the Badger State.

I've been back out to Rice Lake a few times since. In 1996 for a short vacation, from 1998-2000 living (irresponsibly.. I was young), 2001 for a mini vacation & concert in the Twin Cities, and in September 2007 to see a sick uncle in Duluth. It just feels like home to me.

I'll tell you what I like about Rice Lake, for anyone who is considering a move there: It has everything you NEED. It has a Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Shopko, Walgreens, a couple grocery stores, other miscellaneous stores. I don't THINK it has a Target yet.... but it certainly could in the future. (And Eau Claire, which is an hour away, has one.) Just in the span of the last 10 years, Rice Lake has grown tremendously. When I visited in September 2007, there was a whole new area north of town that was not there when I was last there in early 2000. So it's not some po-dunk town with no future. It is always growing, and I look forward to what will be popping up there in the NEXT ten years. The schools are good. It has four seasons. But I also love how it's kind of out by itself in the country, and you can live that country life (fishing, water skiing, hiking, snowmobiling, whatever you enjoy) and yet it is decent driving distance to the Twin Cities (2 1/2 hours), Eau Claire (1 hour), and even Duluth (about 3 hours)... if you want to take a mini road trip and do some shopping elsewhere on the weekends. You can even see the occasional Coldplay concert in Minneapolis, get back late, and still be to work the next morning. That is great for someone like me, who likes little road trips. It's good for anyone who likes the combination of country and city life.
It's even not that far from Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago really.... if there is an event going on there that you want to attend. It's close enough to where you can take a vacation and go there, no airplane/rental car required.

I've never been to Menomonie. I was always aware of it, but my family never had a reason to go there. Our family is scattered around a few little towns in that area, ranging from Rochester, Minnesota up through Hayward, Wisconsin... but Menomonie is not one of them.

I was interested in Menomonie because I study Numerology (analysis of places and people through numbers). Menomonie is what Numerology would be considered a "natural match" to me. (I won't go into details of HOW - that's a whole other post, for a whole other forum.)

Anyway, you guys have given me a lot of food for thought. I am fond of Rice Lake, and wouldn't mind going back there and making a life again, but part of me would be interested in trying some place new. The cost of living aspect of Menomonie being slightly higher brought me down to earth again a little bit. And I'm hesitant about living in a college town.

Thanks for the great thread. Some more to think about and consider.

P.S. As far as Winters go in Wisconsin, the state is well-equipped to handle them. There are never/rarely any blackouts (I never hear of them). They take good care of the roads there, as far as plowing and clearing. (Better than Montana.)

[LovesMenomonie]

I just stumbled across this site and wanted to respond to the comments about Menomonie. I was born and raised here, but lived in the Boulder, CO area as well as Hayward, WI for a few years. While it's true the University is the largest employer, the economy and employment opportunities are very diverse. Industry includes a large 3M facility, ConAgra Foods (Menomonie is the home of Swiss Miss hot chocolate), Phillips Plastics, Wal Mart Distribution Center, Red Cedar Medical Center (part of Mayo Health System), numerous smaller industries, a highly regarded campus of Chippewa Valley Technical College; the County and City are also major employers with good salaries and benefits; Dunn County's unemployment is typically among the lowest in the state. Admittedly, taxes are somewhat higher than we'd like, but we do have excellent services, and the University housing does drive up our rental costs. But, the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts has a great performance schedule through the year; we have an excellent community theater guild; there are plenty of college bars, but there are also many other places that offer a wide variety of food offerings and Zanzibar is terrific - the BEST martinis around. The Red Cedar State Trail is among the best in the State and Hoffman Hills is a terrific site for cross country-skiing or hiking and provides magnificent views of the area; the fall color is wonderful. Yes, the lake is bad, but if you follow the Red Cedar chain all the way to Rice Lake, the whole watershed does have issues--that numerous groups are working on. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN are an hour away and Eau Claire offers a major retail center. Downtown Menomonie has many delightful shops for those things that are more unique and the BEST chocolate at Legacy Chocolates. Crime is low, education is high quality, there are plenty of medical services, and other professional services in the community. Menomonie has often been underrated and overlooked as boring or unappealing...but all-in-all it's a wonderful community with larger city amenities close by. We have a small airport, a regional airport is less than 30 minutes away and the St. Paul-Mpls. International airport is just over an hour PLUS the Mall of America. Take some time to check it out...in fact, many students that have attended UW-Stout have returned to Menomonie because it's a great place to raise families...we aren't all old and boring and some of us are actually pretty progressive and also like to have fun!

[tbbeltran]

If your only choices are Rice Lake or Menomonie, then FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHOOSE MENOMONIE!!!!!

[akravenlady]

Ditto!!!!!!! A hundred times over.

Originally Posted by tbbeltran

If your only choices are Rice Lake or Menomonie, then FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHOOSE MENOMONIE!!!!!

[cm1104]

I currently work in Menomonie and live in Eau Claire. I am definitely thinking about moving to Menomonie. The city is a "large" city compared to what is around it, but yuo don't have the "large" city mentality and crime. Everyone I have met while working here has been nice and courteous. Another great plus, which has been said before, is the distance to the Twin Cities (1 hour) and Eau Claire (25 minutes) for shopping. Restaurants are kind of lacking, but they do have some great little places downtown. If you NEED a big chain restaurant, then drive 25 minutes to Eau Claire and they will have it all for you.