I've lived in the Madison area for 29 years after moving here from Lincoln, NE. Madison is a great place to raise a family and there are many things to do...festivals, farmers market, sports, arts, recreation. The wages and the standard of living is good if you are fortunate to have a high paying job to endure the high taxes. The university is also very good (I attended there for graduate school) and a great asset to the community. However, there tends to be a parochial attitude about it by the locals and alums as it is often touted as a "world class university" akin to Ivy League schools (Note: UW-Madison was ranked 47th by US News for National Universities). An excellent state university, but it is not Princeton,Brown or even Cal. The restaurants are largely meat and potatoes as it is a midwestern city but good Asian and Mexican fare can be found. If you live here, you'll need to embrace the winters (take up skiing) or you will go crazy with cabin fever until the snow melts off which can be as late as May.
Tim | Middleton, WI | Report Abuse