WI, IL, IN, KY? Where should we move? (Milwaukee, Madison: real estate, low crime)
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Hello out there, I have done much research in search of a place to raise my family and decided it was time to jump into the forum for the first time to get some real up -to -date answers. My family of 4 will be making a move in the next few years mostly due to overcrowding in Dupage County, Illinois. Having two kids, 19 community college (in nursing), and 10 yr old 5thgrade, education is important. What we're looking for would go somethig like this:
- low crime and good schools equally important to us as is employment. My husband is currently in construction but we will soon know if he has the job in the sheriffs department. I work as a ranger (not the gun carrying type) in our local county forest preserve, but can handle any kind of recreational job. My kids need to have good educations so that they can have every possible advantage when they face the adult world. An educated county community but not snobby.
- Rural but not too rural. We need some space and some peace and quiet but would like to be able to join life again without too much driving. The kids need friends and we would like to be not too far 15 minutes from schools and town. Currently everything and everyone is right in our faces. Traffic is everywhere and lines are unavoidable. That;s why I work at the forest preserve is too get away from crowds and hustle and bustle. We need to slow down.
- We are active outdoor people. Horses, fishing, boating, wildlife, and scenery. If we could find 5 -10 acres horse property on a lake, or that even had a pond with fishing nearby we'd be in heaven. A horse community near trails or that had trail access would be even better.
- Managelable taxes, decent housing prices to raise a family. . .
-We like the change of seasons but not the extremes.
I have done my homework by searching city-data, the census bureau, school boards, and a variety of other great websites.
Any good ideas outhere for us? WI, IL, IN? Anywhere?
Any advice would be so valuable in our search. I realize there is no perfect place but I do believe it's possible to get close if you look hard enough.
The guys on the Wisconsin forum are great help, but maybe I can offer some brief suggestions first. Sheboygan/Sheboygan Falls, WI might work. I know they have a University of Wisconsin Community College there, it has Interstate access to major cities like Milwaukee and Green Bay. I actually love the great State Parks along Lake Michigan, I believe Kohler-Andrae, and Huntington Beach are what they are called along with many county parks. The homes are cheap, and there appears to be many above average schools.
But really, this is just a little thought and I would defer more towards what the Wisconsin users say.
Outdoorgirl,
I too would recommend Sheboygan area, or maybe even something along the lines of Madison Metro area, where you can live in Columbia County and still commute to Madison.
Indiana is pretty nice to, the Madison area,Situated on the banks of the Ohio River makes it a very scenic area, it really resembles NW IL and SW WI. With the high bluffs and many rural areas it doesn't seem very far from Cincy. If I didn't live in WI it would probably be NC, KY, TN or IN. All very nice states.
For Kentucky I would recommend Covington, there's a guy named Censusdata who is on the KY forum and he's quite helpful. I think Covingtons schools are pretty decent, from what I've heard.
No matter what state you pick you won't be dissapointed with the geography schools et cetera.
Wisconsin has some nice areas. Here's a list of where I've lived and a few of the positives and negatives with each.
Marshfield
It's a nice city of around 20,000. There is plenty of rural land available. The north side of town is in Marathon County which has a slightly higher tax rate. The Marshfield Clinic is the largest employer. You can check their website for openings. It has a traditional Main Street and people love to take walks while window shopping. I enjoyed the outdoor concerts and Wildwood Park Zoo. When I first moved there I thought I wouldn't get used to the slow pace of living there. The clinic and hospital offered first class medical care. It was amazing for a city that size!! Wisconsin isn't what you would call a land of moutains but there is some good skiing within a 45 minute drive.
The drawbacks were few but important. Food prices were higher than I encountered in California. That's probably the economy of scale at work. Small grocery stores don't buy the quantities of an Alpha Beta, Albertson's or Ralph's. Property taxes seemed ridiculous. Real estate prices didn't strike me as especially cheap either. Homes have basements so you get extra square footage. However, if they aren't equipped with right kind egress windows (most weren't), you can't put bedrooms down there. I don't know if those building regulations appy to homes outside of the city limits.
I'll post the other cities a little later. Hope this is helpful.
Last edited by roadamerica; 11-30-2008 at 12:13 PM..
Wisconsin Rapids
It's the County Seat for Wood County. Population must be close to 25,000. The biggest industry is the manufacturing of paper products. Jobs in that industry pay better than average. Like Marshfield, there was plenty of rural land available. Prices seemed a little more reasonable for what you get. Plenty of hunting and fishing areas are available. Lake Petenwell is terrific! I couldn't tell you anything about the schools other than the Community College I attended. It was a technical school and a very busy place. Excellent instructors! The local restaurants were very good.
The same drawbacks of Marshfield apply here too. You can get most of what you need from local stores but anything else will require a trip to Madison or Appleton. The bugs can get intense by early evening. Just tell your husband that the mosquito repellent is a new kind of cologne. He may not notice the smell over the odor of the paper mills. I got used to the paper mill smell. Some days the smell was worse than others. The mill in Nekoosa was the worst. One other thing about Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids has to do with cars. I drove an imported car from California. There was no local dealer support. Ford, GM & Chrysler-Jeep have the majority of the business.
Madison
You can move to Madison unemployed and have a job by the end of the second week. There is everything here but the most top flight stores. My imported car was happy to find a home dealer. You can get out of town quickly and be as rural as you wish. Wages can be higher here but it depends on the work you do. The interstate highway runs through Madison. So does Highway 151. If it's Friday and you have to get to the race track (Road America of course), Highway 151 is your main journey. Interstates 90 and 94 will point you to Milwaukee or Minneapolis. There is plenty of fun stuff to do in a city like Madison.
The downside of Madison has to do with the crime, traffic and extreme high cost of living. I finally reached a point where living on less income, driving a domestic car and shopping on the internet was a fair price to pay for living in the country and enjoying the quiet life. Madison is a busy place. It's a fun place but it comes at a higher price.
Tomah
It's smaller than either Marshfield or Wisconsin Rapids. It's a quiet community that services the cranberry growers and a large military base. It's close to good hunting and fishing. I met a lot of well educated, pleasant and down to earth people there. If you like horses, you would like Tomah. Real estate prices tend to be modest but steady. Most of the surrounding townships have five acre minimum tract sizes. So you can be a little more spread out without feeling completly isolated. The downtown area is a great place to take a walk. There are some decent restaurants there. If you choose to live out of town it doesn't mean you can't get high speed internet. There are some wireless internet companies that service the surrounding area. Granted, you won't get 20 Meg but you'll get something way better than dial up. There are a couple of clinics and a hospital in Tomah.
A plethora of good paying jobs isn't one of the positives about Tomah. Some of the big companies like Toro and Cardinal are doing ok even in the current troubled economic times. However, they don't do a lot of hiring. The cranberry business gets by with few people. The harvest season is busy but it is, well, seasonal. La Crosse is only an hour away but commuting during a winter snow storm isn't my idea of fun.
I would, as always lol, advise a look at the Appleton area. Its not completely rural; I'm not sure where the nearest horse ranch is (though I'm sure I could find one if I needed to). But traffic is light here for the most part, the only time there are real lines is in the Xmas shopping season, crime is low, most school discricts are good, cost of living is low. Though I don't know what the going rate for a horse ranch is, but waterfront property gets pricey. You can find more rural settings, in the townships on the outskirts like Grand Chute, town of Neenah, town of Harrison, Freedom, Greenville, etc. Then stores, resrataunts, etc are only a couple minute drive into Appleton.
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