Reviews & Comments
Neenah, WI
Long-term resident -
6/5/2006Overall, this is not a bad place to live, but unless you are well-to-do, you may want to think about living in Menasha, Town of Menasha, Appleton, or Oshkosh. They are all near Neenah, as the Fox Valley is essentially a conglomeration of suburbs without a large city in the center.
I've been living in Neenah for a long time (on and off for 20 years). The best thing about Neenah is the school district, one of the best in the state. Parks and the library are very good. On the other hand, people in Neenah can be snobby; this is especially the case when Neenah is compared to some of the other local municipalities in the area. Neenah is now undergoing some changes, due to the closing of several major manufacturing plants owned by Kimberly-Clark, which is a major employer. For those without a college education, working at KC in one of the plants (making diapers, feminine produts, and so on) was the best you could possibly expect for a career.
This is a pretty conservative area, with a conservative newspaper owned by a conglomerate (Gannett). There is a small monthly paper that is the liberal response to the Post~Crescent, however. Local TV stations are all out of Green Bay, and the reporting of areas outside of Green Bay (or aside from the Packers) is sometimes spotty. Other posters have said that Appleton area social activities revolve around drinking; this is indeed the case for Neenah, which has Riverside Players as an amateur theatre troupe, a small museum, and not much else.
Higher education is available readily in the area. Closeby is UW-Fox Valley, a two-year college that works in conjunction with four-year state schools. That institution is inexpensive compared to the other options, and the instruction there is quite good. To the north is Appleton, with Lawrence University (a private college). The Green Bay area has a private college, as well as UW-Green Bay. UW-Oshkosh is to the south, and has a good reputation for the colleges of business, education, and nursing.
All things considered, this city could be worse; the crime level is pretty low, and it's not a bad-looking city overall. Be aware, however, that since the city is on Lake Winnebago, that pollution is a problem with PCBs in the lake and with manufacturing, air quality is also a concern.