Milwaukee, Wisconsin

How is living in Milwaukee?

Been here about 3 months but visited a lot in the 4 years prior that I lived in Chicago…

Pros:

relatively inexpensive to dine out and the food is generally underrated - plenty of good restaurants that are on par with Chicago but at a fraction of the price

access to the lake is much better than Chicago

people are genuinely nice!

summerfest

Cons:

Petty crime is high; we have had our car broken into twice and witnessed a shooting

it is still the Midwest - the weather sucks from Jan - April

a lot of people who live here also grew up here - it can be hard to break into socially

How is living in Milwaukee?

Pro’s? So many awesome restaurants and bars, the summers are incredible. The lake is incredible. The theaters and sports are great- Brewers, Bucks, Admirals. There’s a great concerts almost every weekend.

Cons- the crime. I moved from Central Illinois- the reckless driving still makes my head spin 10 years later. Red lights mean nothing, lane markers mean nothing, speed limits mean nothing. If you don’t have indoor parking your car will probably get broken into. (Police response is non existent) The property taxes are INSANE.

But I still love it here and you will too!

Is Milwaukee, WI a good place to move to for someone newly divorced who is looking to start over? I’m looking for a good (affordable and filled with nice, friendly people) place to move from San Francisco

Milwaukee proper is a fairly large city (600,000+), and very multi-cultural. It is a very old city, with buildings from yesteryear as well as new builds.

Professional sports, as well as the arts, abound. Plenty of ethnic dining of high quality.

There is much activity through spring, summer & fall. One very fun activity in the summer is kite flying.

Milwaukee is not without violent crime, with the year 2000 reporting between 8000 and 9000 such crimes. Coming from SF, it wouldn’t be a big change.

If you aspire to advancing your education, there are several outstanding institutions of higher learning in the city.

Milwaukie is approximately 80–90 miles from Chicago, IL. If you can’t find “it” in Milwaukee, you’ll find it in Chicago.

Flying in and out of Milwaukee is quite easy, as well.

What is it like to live in Milwaukee?

Living in Milwaukee is great if you take advantage of all it has to offer. This is probably true in most large cities. One unique aspect of Milwaukee is its location on the shores of Lake Michigan which is like a freshwater ocean. There are many beautiful parks along the lakefront and across the whole city. There are hundreds of excellent restaurants serving nearly every ethnic food and many fusion choices as well. Milwaukee is a city of festivals. Beginning with the Lakefront Festival of Arts in May, to Summerfest, the world’s largest music festival, lasting 10 days, and finally to ethnic festivals celebrating the major groups that settled in Milwaukee, Germans, Polish, Irish, Italian and Mexicans, Milwaukeeans eat, drink and have fun at The Maier Festival park on the lakefront . Milwaukee Irish Fest is the largest Celtic music festival in North America.

The people of Milwaukee are friendly and down to earth. It is a large small town, so nearly everyone has some connection through their relatives, where they went to school, where they or their parents worked. This gives the residents a sense of identity but it can also make it challenging for newcomers to feel part of the scene. There are large African-American and Hispanic populations, who have contributed much to the city but have not shared in the benefits to the degree of others. The city is very segregated. There are a few culturally mixed neighborhoods, where the people who value diversity choose to live.

Relocating to Milwaukee, Cost of Living, Pros and Cons