help me decide where to live....appleton, green bay, or madison? (Milwaukee: insurance, crime rates)

[brooke29]

hello!

my husband and I are currently in the wausau area but we are looking to relocate to either appleton, green bay, or madison. which of these three would you say are the 'best' areas to live?

we've made many trips to all three cities but are still having a REALLY hard time choosing.

I've heard good and bad things about all three so I'm posting on here hoping to hear feedback from people who have lived there or even better, are living in these places now.

We like appleton/green bay but I'm very concerned about the job industries in these areas especially if we were to make a permanent move to either city. no doubt the economy is not doing well anywhere but I like to be somewhere with as much a diverse economy as possible.

From what I've researched online, it seems that the biggest industries in the green bay/fox cities areas are geared toward factory work.

Is this accurate or would you say this is WAY off? What would you say are the main job market industries in these areas?

Of the three...Madison seems like it might be a better pick compared to the green bay/appleton industries.

a few things that concern me about madison is:

1) the higher cost of living compared to appleton/greenbay

2) I'm worried if we moved to madison it would be hard for me to get a job due to the large amount of students/college grads competing for jobs, etc.

would you say these concerns legit or way off base?

My husband works for the airport so he wouldn't have a problem with finding a job. My current job is in the insurance industry.

We have no children as of yet but within the next few years we'd like to start our family, get a house, and settle down. Would you say any of these cities are better suited for family life than another?

I obviously have much to do in regards to researching on these cities...however, I thought this would be a good starting point. I'm looking for info on the pros/cons of each of these cities.

thanks in advance for any advice/info anyone has!

brooke

[EastSideMKE]

I would eliminate Green Bay right off the bat. It has the highest unemployment in the state and is surprisingly ghetto for how small it is. Madison currently has one of the strongest economies in the nation, but like you said it has a much higher cost of living, even higher than Milwaukee. Appleton is a great little city, not as nearly much going on as Madison but way, way nicer than Green Bay. Appleton has ATW Airport, which is the 3rd busiest airport in WI after Mitchell and Madison. Appleton is also home to Thrivent, United Health, and TouchPoint insurance companies, so it has jobs in your field. If you're from Wausau, another city you may want to consider is Eau Claire as it's about the same distance away as Appleton.

[yo vanilla]

appleton has one of the largest concentrations of insurance companies in the country. and there are enough office-type jobs to go around, it's not what you'd call a blue collar town (that would be green bay). but the job market here (like everywhere) is stagnant right now.

search my username for info about appleton, i've had a lot of nice things to say about it.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by brooke29

hello!

my husband and I are currently in the wausau area but we are looking to relocate to either appleton, green bay, or madison. which of these three would you say are the 'best' areas to live?

we've made many trips to all three cities but are still having a REALLY hard time choosing.

I've heard good and bad things about all three so I'm posting on here hoping to hear feedback from people who have lived there or even better, are living in these places now.

We like appleton/green bay but I'm very concerned about the job industries in these areas especially if we were to make a permanent move to either city. no doubt the economy is not doing well anywhere but I like to be somewhere with as much a diverse economy as possible.

From what I've researched online, it seems that the biggest industries in the green bay/fox cities areas are geared toward factory work.

Is this accurate or would you say this is WAY off? What would you say are the main job market industries in these areas?

Of the three...Madison seems like it might be a better pick compared to the green bay/appleton industries.

a few things that concern me about madison is:

1) the higher cost of living compared to appleton/greenbay

2) I'm worried if we moved to madison it would be hard for me to get a job due to the large amount of students/college grads competing for jobs, etc.

would you say these concerns legit or way off base?

My husband works for the airport so he wouldn't have a problem with finding a job. My current job is in the insurance industry.

We have no children as of yet but within the next few years we'd like to start our family, get a house, and settle down. Would you say any of these cities are better suited for family life than another?

I obviously have much to do in regards to researching on these cities...however, I thought this would be a good starting point. I'm looking for info on the pros/cons of each of these cities.

thanks in advance for any advice/info anyone has!

brooke

We have several large insurance companies in Madison...whether they are presently hiring I don't know. Send your resume out. You are correct that Madison has a high cost of living compared to the other places you're inquiring about.

You will pay the price to live here, but our economy is doing fairly well.

[brooke29]

thanks for the replies & info everyone...greatly appreciate it! We're going to look more into the appleton area...sounds like it would be a good fit for us.

[Timcda]

Appleton sounds like it would be a good choice for you in a lot of ways. The local economy seems neither particularly good nor particularly bad, but it sounds like you've researched that thoroughly. I'd say the strongest points about living in Appleton for someone with your concerns are:

* very affordable housing

* nice, old fashioned residential neighborhoods, esp. in central Appleton and parts of Neenah

* one of the lowest crime rates in the country for a medium size town

* more going on than you might think culturally -- Lawrence University with its excellent conservatory offers lots of music and other events, a major Performing Arts Center with big name acts, a remarkable number of coffee houses, many with readings, music, etc.

* Excellent schools -- there's zero reason to send your kids to private schools in Appleton unless you want them to get some kind of specially-oriented education (e.g. religious)

* a fairly well connected regional airport (non-stops to Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, and I think one or two other international airports) that's only 15 minutes from downtown and small enough so that getting through it isn't a horrible hassle.

* Good public services -- excellent library, award-winning hospitals, good police departments, nice parks.

* "Appleton is a great place to raise a family" is said so often it's become almost a cliche.

Some further information with other links can be found at the web site of the local newspaper:

[url=http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage]Postcrescent.com | Appleton Post-Crescent | Appleton news, community, entertainment, yellow pages and classifieds. Serving Appleton, WI[/url]

the City web site:

[url=http://www.appleton.org/]Appleton.org | City of Appleton, Wisconsin[/url]

and this page by a local "booster":
[url=http://www.jefflindsay.com/Appleton.html#top]Welcome to Appleton, Wisconsin (Appleton: A Great Place to Live!)[/url]

[ndheah]

Green Bay and Appleton are quite different actually.
I find Green Bay to be very hillbilly, and Appleton to have a bit more class (Thus why we're moving there).

Appleton, in my opinion is a better option to live for a few reasons.


1) It's in the middle, an easy commute to Green Bay, Oshkosh, even Fon Du Lac - even Milwaukee for the die-hard commuters.
2) You can go a nice restaurant and not see people wearing jeans and a packer t-shirt, which is something very common from Green Bay and north.
3) Decent job market that isn't centered around the industrial age.
4) Green Bay is somewhat - ghetto in a lot of parts, Appleton seems to be more up-scale, and clean.
5) Appleton has a lot of insurance carriers, heck I was offered employment by one (thus our move).

No comment on Madison but if you're moving to NE WI I'd say Appleton (or a suburb) is the way to go.

[Milwaukee City]

Waukesha County and Milwaukee's Lake Country Area is just beautiful. Although Waukesha County feels like one big suburb.

[JimHGB]

Actually, Green Bay is a lot nicer than Appleton. The only thing in the Appleton area is Kimberly Clark and they've outsourced all their jobs to India. Green Bay is much more progressive.

[JimHGB]

Also, the suburbs in the Green Bay area (Allouez, Ashwaubenon and De Pere) are infinitely nicer than Neenah and Menasha. Talk about s**t holes!