Madison WI - 2/28/2007

nice city to live in- growing so fast the city can't keep up with things like stop signs and stop lights needed for traffic flow - spent the city money on things they don't need to spend it on like talking about putting in street cars -

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Housing in Madison - 10/2/2006

We are seeing a surplus of active listings with very little movement. It is a buyers market. New construction along the perimeter is very slow with builders lowering prices to attract buyers.

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Housing Costs - 9/25/2006

An average, nice-condition 3-bedroom house in Madison with a basement and one-car garage will probably run just shy of $200k. You will probably have about $3,700 in annual property taxes on a $200k home, so make sure to factor that into your monthly mortgage payment!

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Brutal winters, but many nice things to like - 9/25/2006

Yes, Madison, WI has some nasty winters. It can be around zero for several weeks straight. In my 7 years here, I've seen approximately 2-3 major snowfalls each winter; major meaning 6 inches or more. The city does a great job of snow removal on the roads, but unfortunately they do not help you with your driveway or sidewalk. Fall is beautiful with low humidity and no bugs. Springtime is very yucky. March, April and some of May can be warm, sunny, cold, snowy, slushy or any combination on any given day. Summer usually begins end of May and has a couple of weeks with temps near 100 and high humidity around July or August. Overall, summer is very nice except for all of the darn mosquitoes. Madison is a pretty fun, affluent, over-educated town. There are a good mix of long-time residents and transient residents. The state government, major state university (w/ research hospital) and several corporate HQ's based here help contribute to that. There really isn't a ghetto here per se, but there are probably a couple of areas that some folks may shy away from at night. It's nothing like a major urban area, though. Madison has a low unemployment rate and there are way too many over-educated people here. It's not uncommon to have someone with an undergraduate degree sell you a television at Best Buy, or have a taxi-cab driver with a PhD. Driving in Madison can be a pain in the butt due to the downtown area being located on an isthmus between two lakes. There are limited routes from one side of town to the other. I live on the west side of town and it takes me 30-40 minutes to drive 11 miles to work on the east side of town. This is no big deal for a larger city, but it's an inconvenience for a town the size of Madison. If there's fresh show, that same drive can easily take over an hour. Schools are good here. There's a mediocre yet free zoo, a brand new performing arts center, plenty of college sports and many different activities and organizations in which to participate. There are some nice bike trails and bike lanes on some of the roads. The city bus system is excellent and it's definitely possible to live in Madison without a car. It's a nice place to raise a family, although some may complain the Madison schools are too liberal and push kids to hard to be involved in too many extra-curricular activities. Property taxes are among the highest in the country, but the Madison schools are pretty good as a result. Home appreciation has been steady around 1

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Housing - 8/27/2006

Housing costs combined with high real estate taxes make madison an expensive medium size city.

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Madison is a great city! - 8/15/2006

Madison is a great city to live, work, and have a family. It offers all the niceties of a big city, college town, and suburbia packaged into one.

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Living near Madison - 7/28/2006

I love Living in Sun Prairie you get the small town feel with the city benifits. Madison has so much to offer including the Farmers market, Concert on the Square, and the Taste of Madion. Also there are three colleges which includ UW-Madison with sports and the Union Terrace. Madoisn is a well rounded small city that has alot to offer. All the small souronding towns make it a great place to live and raise a family

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Great City, Horrible Winters - 7/8/2006

After graduating from the UW-Madison (GO BADGERS!) with a graduate degree, I remained for approximately six additional years. I loved Madison, WI, but not Wisconsin (too narrow minded). Downside -- the winters, OH BOY, THE WINDERS. Snow, cold, shovel, shovel again, and... again without seeing green grass for months. Now live in Portland, Oregon. I do miss Madison, the culture, the environment and the University - NOT THE WINTERS. Finally, too few jobs and too many college graduates.

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Madison, WI summer climate - 6/6/2006

In the summer we find Madison's climate similiar to Seoul, South Korea.

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Nice town but too few good jobs - 5/18/2006

My wife and I moved here a year ago because she is a resident at St. Mary's Hospital. Since, with a masters in biology and undergrads in bio and chemistry I have been totally unable to find a job in my field. There are jobs available if you want to work restaurant or service but good luck getting two careers going. I have run into more unemployed and underemployed professionals here than anywhere I have ever been. The guy that sold us our dryer was and electrical engineer!! I run into so many people in my boat at the local dog park that we could probably start a professional temp business. The town is nice but not as great as most locals make it out to be. It compares favorably culturally to big Midwestern cities like Cincy, Indy or Chicago but fades quickly when you realize that you are paying East Coast cost of living on Midwest wages. Its also a mediocre college town: see Austin TX, Boulder or even Bloomington for great college towns

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Pretty city but clueless - 5/18/2006

My wife and I moved here a year ago because she is a resident at St. Mary's Hospital. Since, with a masters in biology and undergrads in bio and chemistry I have been totally unable to find a job in my field. There are jobs available if you want to work restaurant or service but good luck getting two careers going. I have run into more unemployed and underemployed professionals here than anywhere I have ever been. The guy that sold us our dryer was and electrical engineer!! I run into so many people in my boat at the local dog park that we could probably start a professional temp business. The town is nice but not as great as most locals make it out to be. It compares favorably culturally to big Midwestern cities like Cincy, Indy or Chicago but fades quickly when you realize that you are paying East Coast cost of living on Midwest wages. Its also a mediocre college town: see Austin TX, Boulder or even Bloomington for great college towns

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Madison - 2/26/2006

My wife and I love Madison for its small-town size with big-city culture.

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Madison, WI - 12/12/2005

I lived in Madison for three years and miss it. The only downsides were the long, frigid winters and sometimes unbearable humidity in summer. There is a lot to do and a nice community feeling. Unfortunately, jobs were hard to come by. The Capitol Square is beautiful and has concerts and a farmer's market. Madison is a great biking town- you can get around the downtown easily without a car. I used to carry my groceries on the back of my bike. Madison is a lovely place, not perfect by any means (lakes are badly polluted), but overall has a lot to recommend it.

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Moved but love Madison - 12/10/2005

I lived in Madison for 3 years. I loved it but felt that it was time to move...career goals, scarcity of single men my age, and wanderlust. I do, however, miss almost everything about Madison. I currently live in Smell-A (LA) and hate it. Not that I hate big cities. I have lived in NYC and liked it. The University of WI-Madison is the only community-friendly university that I have come across. They make it easy for the residents of Madison to be active in univ activities. Residents can join the Hoofer sailing club for a minimal amt per year and have unlimited access to all sailboats, windsurfers and lessons. It's great. Yes, I agree with the previous poster that the lakes are not the cleanest. Univ's are notorious for polluting. The lakes are frequently tested for e-coli levels and the beaches are closed but the univ continues to dump animal feces into the lake. UGH. Back to the good points. You can use the pottery studio and woodworking shop of the univ! You can find beautiful historic homes for a reasonable price. The winter is not that bad. I liked it, and you can skate and windsail on the lakes. Madison is very biking friendly. All the students bike. If you are already married or have no interest in dating(if you are over college age), then Madison is great. If you are in your 30's or above and want to meet someone, forget it. Oh, AND A REALLY AWFUL THING ABOUT MADISON... if you are a dog lover, you can FORGET ABOUT GOING TO THE PUBLIC PARKS. NO DOGS ALLOWED. How crazy is that? Madison is definitely geared toward kids from birth to 25.

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Madison for the young single professional - 10/2/2005

Madison is a lot of fun, lots of great places to work and hang out. However, I've been here going on 8 years since graduating college, and maybe i've been here too long now, but I'm ready to get out. This places isn't as liberal as everyone says (I'm a kayaker and I won't dip my paddle in any of Madison's lakes due to mercury levels). It's difficult to meet people who are in the upper 20's-low 30's age group who aren't married. It's either college student or married couple with family. But, like I say, you'll like the small town atmosphere, safe neighborhoods, lots of cool little restaurants and bars. If you want a taste of the big city for great music, restaurants and more yp's, head to Milwaukee. I'm used to the winters since I grew up in a nearby state. It's better than Minneapolis's winters!

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Left Madison for L.A. - 6/16/2005

My husband and I left Madison for Los Angeles in 1989. ( He got a job out here.) I grew up in Madison and both of us have degrees from the University of Wisconsin--Madison. The ONLY thing better here in L.A. is the weather. Wisconsin winters are very harsh. Otherwise Madison is a fantastic place to live. Lots of cultural opportunities for a smaller city, excellent public schools and top notch university, beautiful setting on 5 small lakes with lots of wooded areas, VERY liberal political climate, clean and low crime rate, highly educated population, low housing prices (esp. Compared to L.A.!), lots of doctors and good hospitals, easy drive to larger cities like Minneapolis or Chicago. Taxes are high, but services are equally outstanding. (You get what you pay for in this regard.) Yep, I wish we'd never left... Still a "Badger".

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Used to live in Madison miss it - 6/8/2005

My husband was born in Madison and I was born in Monroe. We live there until 1986 and then moved to San Antonio TX. Boy was that a change no trees or water. Since TX we have lived in other states as well. I think Madison is a great city. The university is top-notch. There are lots of outdoor recreation activites. Most people if they haven't lived in a cold state think there is snow and ice most of the year in Wisconsin. There are about 200 sunny days a year and yes it does get bone chilling cold in the winter. The winter of 1996 we set a record of -29 below without wind chill burrrrr! Cherri

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Living in Madison, Wisconsin - 5/22/2005

We've lived in Madison for the last 21 years. The biggest thing that stands out to me about living here is the long winter season. About half of the year the weather is nice, the other half is cold. We don't have bumper to bumper traffic, the crime rate is low, our children get a decent education. We have two malls, one for the east side of town and one for the west side. There is about a 20-30 min. drive between the two sides of town. The University of Madison is downtown. The active area there is State Street, where you can find many things to do.(shop, eat, drink, see a play, children's museum, farmer's market) I would say that Madison is a liberal city. There are a few lakes,nice parks. The property taxes are high. Madison isn't senior citizen friendly when it comes to taxes. The unemployment rate is low. Overall, I believe Madison is a nice place to live if you can put up with the long, cold, harsh winter season year after year. We've been looking for a better place to live for the last few years, but haven't been able to find anything else that lives up to what we have here.

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