Wisconsin Nesties
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Another potential WI resident...
Hi ladies - I noticed there was already a post from another nestie about this, but there's a chance DH could land a job in Milwaukee. Is there anyone from the Minneapolis area that lives there now? I've never even been to Milwaukee, so it's hard to gauge anything at this point.
Any helpful info would be much appreciated!!
Sorry for the similar post - but we'd be looking at closer to Milwaukee than the other poster. TIA!! 
Re: Another potential WI resident...
I love living in the Milwaukee Area. So much to do. In the summer we have to plan down time. It is a really friendly area and i don't think you will find it too different from MN. Summer is filled with festivals on the lakefront, church festivals and street festivals all over, state fair is fun with lots of good people watching, we have one of the best zoos in my opinion. Lots of bars with beer gardens if that is your thing and lots of great restaurants.
If you plan to have a family the MPS school district is not so hot, but the suburbs have a lot to offer.
If you want to know specifics just ask.
I've not lived in the cities but I can tell you about mke!
I think you'll find mke similar to the cities,?obviously?climate is the same, we have the lake which is cool. ?Shopping is pretty good, a few big malls and lots of different boutique areas in the surrounding?suburbs. ? We have opera, theatre, ballet, sports, great summer festivals and lots of other stuff. ?anything you need to know in particular?
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I actually spent half of my childhood in a Milwaukee suburb and the other half in a suburb of the Cities. So I know a bit about both places. I love Milwaukee (always have), but I will say that the Cities have a lot more to offer as far as fine arts stuff goes. They also get a lot more big artists to play than we do (with the exception of Summerfest). For example Eric Clapton is playing in Chicago and the Cities, but not Milwaukee and that seems to happen frequently. It also seems like the Cities get more broadway plays.
Milwaukee has lots of great festivals and different ethnic foods. I'm not sure about how that is in the Cities. I know there are lots of good restaurants there, but I am not very familiar with them as I left after high school so I never got the opportunity to go out and explore much in the Cities.
I'm not sure if that's helpful at all, but if you have any specific questions, let me know!
I don't know the pp's reason for recommending the suburbs, but unless you have school-aged children, I wouldn't. I live just a couple miles from the city limit, and I would kill to live closer in to the city. Our apartment is just so cheap that we can't justify moving. There are lots of places in the Third Ward and East Side where you can live walking distance from tons of stuff to do. I know a lot of people who live in those areas and really enjoy it. Whenever I have to drive home after hanging out, I'm always jealous of them.
If you have school-aged kids, it really makes sense to live in the suburbs unless you plan to send them to private school. There are a few decent MPS schools, but like most large urban areas, the district overall has lots of problems.
I agree with this.
Milwaukee's a whole different ball game from Beloit (and I'm the one that gave the depressing advice about Beloit).
I am from Milwaukee, but I lived in downtown St. Paul for four years before moving "home" three years ago. As mentioned, the twin cities have a little more on the fine arts front (though there's a lot here ... it's just a little smaller and you have to look harder for it). I love Milwaukee just as much as the Twin Cities. Both are great places to live. There are a ton of sporting events, festivals and good restaurants. What are you into?
As for where to live, there are a lot of considerations (the schools, as mentioned before, and the extremely high taxes in the City of Milwaukee if you're thinking of buying in Milw. proper v. a suburb). If your DH gets the job (good luck to him), post again with a general idea of where it is and we can give specific help re: neighborhoods.
Also, you should come visit. It will give you a feel for Milwaukee.
Thanks SO much for all the responses thus far. It's definitely helpful hearing from real people than looking on touristy sites. I don't really have any specific questions now since this is all really early in the game. We don't have any kids, but might consider trying in about a year, so that could be a factor. I'll follow-up if this progresses because I'm sure I'll want to hear even more about recommendations on where to live & such.
Thanks again ladies!
Sorry, I have to speak up because you hit a sore spot. As for the city vs. the suburbs I could NEVER see us moving to the suburbs. We like to live close to everything and there are plenty of cute neighborhoods in the city that feel like a suburb. (As a pp said, though, the taxes may be higher in the city.)
As for the school system: I am a product of it and will likely send my kids-to-be-someday there. And I proudly work for it. You just need to shop around for the school that is best for you. That is an advantage to a large school system. I would agree that 90-95% of the schools are failing but there are a few gems in there. My alma mater is always ranked higher than any other public high school in WI by Newsweek.
Love the cities-especially the Wedge. Lived in Eau Claire for 5 years and was in the cities every other weekend for grocery shopping and church.
Bayview is an area in Milwaukee much like the Wedge area. House can run from 99K-480K depending on the area.
Good luck!