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Anyone live in Madison WI?

T

tk149

Diamond Member
What's there to do, how do you like it?

I live in downtown Chicago right now. I hate my current managers, but love the work. The new job would be in a completely different field - I'm not sure if I would like it.

The new job would pay a bit more. I've checked several on-line Cost of Living Calculators, and some say Madison is actually slightly more expensive than Chicago, while others say Madison is significantly cheaper than Chicago. I have no idea who to trust.

I'm going to try to find apartments online now...

UPDATE Call me cheesehead, I accepted! Thanks to those who replied. Can anyone recommend a reasonable place to live?

I'll be working not far from the intersection of I-90 and Buckeye Rd. I don't mind a 15-20 minute commute, if the price is right. I'm looking for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Can I get a decent one for around $700-$800/month?
 
I live in Wisconsin.

You can visit the fabulous Milwaukee County Zoo and enjoy the well kept grounds.

Admission is $9.75 for non-Milwaukee county residents. Open 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday and 9am to 6pm on Sundays. :thumbsup:

The only other thing to do in Wisconsin is Anandtech and watching movies in your basement hometheater.

I go to school in Madison. The above applies except the local zoo is free and replace basement with dorm room 😛

EDIT: Oh, do you like alcohol? I don't drink but I hear a few students at Madison do...

I really didn't get out much with my gf in Madison. Spent a lot of time on campus. Popular things to do were to go to the hundreds of sporting events, hang out on state street, go to the lake, and of course the #1 Madison activity... getting trashed.
 
I live in Madison and really enjoy it. There's tons to do if you're an outdoors/fitness type of person. Dining is pretty good. Shopping is so-so. A smoking ban in all Madison bars just started July 1st, which is great. The job market for the tech industry is decent.

Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions - but I will be leaving for Vegas on Saturday morning.
 
Madison is a ver nice city... VERY VERY loveral though so be forwarned. 🙂
I live in Milaueke, hhad many freinds that went to UW Madison and still live there to this day.
All in all its a solid city. Qite politcal but that makes sense. Lots to do with the college being there are 2 gorgeous lakes (its on an isthmus).
Feel free to PM me
 
Oh as for cost of living I'd say it is all over the board. It all depends on WHERE in Madison you want/need to live. If you want to be down in the college area, in the heart of the city, then yeah it expensive and pretty cut throat. But there are many outlying communites that are more than resonable.
 
I went to school there for 5 years. the city is awesome, ranked one of the top 5 places to live every year. lots of bars and a great nightlife. if i could be back there with a good job, id be there in a heartbeat!
 
just been up there three weeks ago for a concert. (Chicago here).

VERY clean and very nice city !!!
 
Madison's awesome. The ONLY downside as far as I'm concerned is that there is an excess of well-educated, overqualified people there, so employers tend not to pay well. If you are getting a fair wage from your employer, you're set.
 
Well I go to school there and I like it.
I've seen it ranked in the best places to live, although on the last ratings I saw Middleton, a suburb, was ranked.

I can't really compare it to anywhere other than the middle of nowhere in Wisconsin though, but I really enjoy Madison and find a lot to do.
 
I went to UW-Madison, graduated (CMPE), and now work and live in Madison full-time.

It's the best place I've lived I'd say. I agree with the other poster that the cost of living can vary somewhat. I've always assumed that the cost of living is lower in Madison vs. Chicago, but I may be wrong (real estate prices are high here, but I would have assumed they were in the Chicago area as well).
 
madison is a pretty good place to live if you have a decent paying job. I always love the block parties and state street. I got my first underage there at the mifflin street block party. good times.
 
I live in Sun Prairie, WI. About 15-20mins ride to downtown Madison. I don't get out much, but its a very nice area to live in. Last I checked Sun Prairie was the fastest growing city in Wisconsin. I lived in the Twin Cities for a couple of years and don't miss the "big" city living at all.

Oh and we (Fitchburg, a sub of Madison) are getting an IMAX later this year, woot! If you like the arts they put in a big center, http://www.overturecenter.com/ Madison is also just an hour away from the WI dells, a good family retreat, pricey but you should be able to find something you want to do there. Madison also hosts the midwests largest fireworks show once a year http://www.rhythmandbooms.com/index.php Of course there are always college sporting events you can go to (go Bucky!). We have most of the major stores, only missing a Frys. Green Bay is only 3 hours away or so, going to a packers game can just be a day trip if you want, no need for an overnight stay. There are a ton of good eating places, Madison ranks right up there with resturants per household averages. High speed internet can be had all over Dane county, where you have a choice of cable or DSL, except in the rural areas. If you like brats, you will be happy to know once a year Madison has america's largest brat fest http://www.bratfest.com/ . Sun Prairie has a race track, during the summer there is racing every Sunday night. There are two major malls, east and west.

Did I leave anything out?
 
It's a big, friendly, liberal college town with a lot of recreational areas spread all around it.

If you are into that stuff, it's a great place to live. Friendly, easy to get around (except downtown), and plenty of places to develop bad habits. (tailgate, drink, eat fatty grilled foods 😀)
 
Ok I did leave out its a liberal area/county, being a conservative I know my vote will never count, but I go vote anyways. If you are liberal we don't need any more of you ;-) lol, so stay away.
 
Thanks for the replies, people.

I'm a little too old to be hitting on college girls, so that's not a consideration. I tend to vote conservatively, enjoy the arts, love Fry's and bratwursts, but don't drink (much).

Where's a nice area to live? I would actually prefer to be away from and south of the city itself.
 
Originally posted by: tk149
Thanks for the replies, people.

I'm a little too old to be hitting on college girls, so that's not a consideration. I tend to vote conservatively, enjoy the arts, love Fry's and bratwursts, but don't drink (much).

Where's a nice area to live? I would actually prefer to be away from and south of the city itself.
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Depends what you mean by away from. If you want easy access to chicago, you probably should live on the far east side or in a "Suburb" like oregon.

I really, really doubt that madison is as costly as chicago. Some of the far off burbs of chicago probably have similar or slightly higher rent, but the taxes in madison are about 5% lower, and only downtown / campus will you pay an arm and a leg for rent.

You can get a cheap (not too many amenities) 2 bedroom, 900ish square foot place for $600/mo. And you can get a nice one that's 1100sq foot for $800 easily (tons of places like that). Houses are a bit inflated, for a 1500sq foot house you are likely looking at $150-200k, cheaper the further out you go.

The worst aspect of madison is that it's not really all that great for single people 20-30. Milwaukee and Chicago are noticeably better for that. Everything is either college student or family oriented, or seems that way. We do have lots of bars, and all are supposed to be smoke free now. And lots of good restaurants.
 
Originally posted by: KK
I hear its the place to be if you are into polka.
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I think what he was trying to say is that alot of the families that live here came from european countries such as Poland, Germany, Norway, and the like. Overall a nice city and state to live in.

If you like to be taxed up the a$$.
 
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