If I was a married person without a kid looking to live in a city environment, I’d choose Milwaukee 10 times out of 10.
It’s not that Madison is a bad place to live. It’s just not really a city environment. Maybe I never lived in the correct places, but it isn’t super walkable unless you want to live near a bunch of college students. Which is fine, but isn’t my cup of tea anymore even at the ripe old age of 30. Madison, however, is very bikeable. So if you’re willing to be a little loose with your definition of walkable, it could check the boxes.
Milwaukee is just more of a traditional city environment as compared to Madison.
One thing to note - Midwest cities are tightly packed compared to Southern cities that I’ve visited. You can get from entirely outside the city of Milwaukee to the heart of downtown in 20 minutes. Going from one neighborhood to the next does not involve getting on an interstate highway system.
I had Houston and San Antonio in my head as I was typing that as well. If you want to get anywhere other than exactly where you are it’s a 30 minute car ride that you have to get on the interstate for. It’s exhausting. Even Kansas City feels a bit like that to me, and that’s an older city that should have a more Chicago/Milwaukee feel than a newer Southern city.
Visiting those types of cities really helps me appreciate what we have here in the northern Midwest.
Where Milwaukee demolished some neighborhoods for the expressways downtown, Chicago destroyed the west side Italian neighborhood for 290 and UIC, Medical district - KC destroyed maybe as much combined of the old urban development. You’re correct on KC - lots of parkway to interstate. Going back now for work trips, I stayed at the end of the newer downtown streetcar and still walked almost the distance it traveled. I also once mapped a bus ride from my Plaza apartment to downtown and it was like 3 bus transfers and 65 minutes vs 15 min taxi/drive.
Yeah the Lights District or whatever it’s called in KC is a really cool area. But if you want to go literally anywhere else in downtown KC, it seems to require hopping on the interstate for some amount of time. Whereas for both MKE and Chicago, even if you have to drive, you’re driving on city streets if you’re staying in the city. Which I like.
I grew up on the west side of Madison but have lived in Milwaukee area since going to college in 2007. I lived on the upper east side, then down in Yankee Hill, before moving to the suburbs (Brookfield/Menomonee Falls boarder).
I have no intention of ever moving back to the Madison area. The Milwaukee and Madison suburban areas are very similar to me, honestly. Ultimately MKE has much more to offer without having to live near a super large metro area. You can get to Chicago, Madison, or Green Bay in about 2 hours or less (average traffic).
I’ve lived in both Madison and Milwaukee. They’re both great, though Madison has changed a lot since I’ve lived there, so I wouldn’t consider myself an expert anymore. Milwaukee has a lot of cool walkable places outside of the immediate downtown area as well: East Side, Bay View, Riverwest, Wauwatosa, etc. so lots of options depending on the vibe you’re looking for.
I hired a guy from Atlanta suburbs that moved up to the Milwaukee area a couple years ago.
I can always talk to him and see if he’d be open to talking about his experience - if you wanted to chat with someone with similar experience. Born and raised in GA, went to GA Southern, and started working down there
I understand this is a Wisconsin thing but we are doing fun things in the Quad-Cities. That being said if I were to move it would be Washington County, just so I could play WCGC all the time
Pared down this itinerary - will be playing 36 at lawsonia links this Friday and 9 or 18 (TBD) at the glen in Madison on Saturday morning. DM me if you’ll be out there!
Iowa guy here, looking to get up to the Milwaukee area to catch a couple of Brewers games and I am packing the clubs(obviously) - wanted to reach out and see what courses in the area the group would recommend playing. I haven’t played in Wisconsin before. TIA.