Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Whether it’s hot or cold -- and it will be both -- there’s always something to do in Milwaukee. The city is known for its world-class museums and theater, a resurgent (again) downtown, hip restaurants and hot spots, and its crowning jewel of three miles of beach lakefront. And it’s only a short drive from world capitals like Chicago, as well as vacation destinations like Door County, Lake Geneva, and the Wisconsin Dells.

The lakefront is amazing in the summer, but it can be hell in the winter. “Cooler by the lake” can mean that it is literally 10 degrees colder than the rest of the state. That cold means temperatures well below zero, not even including the blasted wind chill. Tornadoes, hail storms, and frigid temps are just some of the unpredictable weather that hits Milwaukee. The sun can be elusive for days, which can strongly affect people with seasonal disorders. Of course, all this means is that Milwaukeeans appreciate the good days all that much more.

Consistently named one of the most affordable metro areas in the country, life in Milwaukee won’t eat away at your budget like it will in other big cities. But that’s not to say that it’s an inferior option. Over the past 15 years, Milwaukee has undergone one of its famous reinventions of itself, this time evolving (or devolving, depending on your perspective) into a hip and funky mini-metropolis.

The beer scene lives up to the hype, with highly rated breweries popping up all over town ‘Brew City,’ and foodies rejoice with highly rated restaurants and a wide variety of options aplenty… not to mention the cheese tastings that Wisconsin is famous for. Sports fandoms in Milwaukee are huge, with pro sports teams like the Brewers, Bucks and Packers repped all around town. The expansive Milwaukee Public Market and countless summer music festivals including the internationally known Summerfest give the more social crowd an opportunity to take advantage of the warmer summer weather.

If you want to get a flavor of what happens in Milwaukee check out the calendar of events.

Although there’s no such thing as a perfect job market, Milwaukee’s is solid as a thick sheet of winter ice, with unemployment rates as low as the temperatures and job options in some sectors accumulating like the snow on your lawn. An increasingly younger generation of transplants has been moving to Brew City, as an alternative to Chicago, to take advantage of the low cost of living and lively new development in recent years.

The manufacturing business is popular in Milwaukee, with Harley Davidson, Rockwell Automation, and Johnson Controls as some of the big names in that category. Milwaukee is also a major destination for healthcare workers. Froedtert and Advocate Aurora Health are two of the biggest employers in the Milwaukee area.