What are some nice rural areas around Milwaukee, WI for a family?

Question

I currently commute 85 miles one way, and would like to start looking at areas closer to my work.

I am not very familiar with the surrounding areas. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Sheboygan is about an hour away (60 miles) and is right off of 43.  It's a nice smallish city.  Kohler is pretty much the same but it requires bigger bucks.

Getting closer, Port Washington seems pretty nice.  Also right off 43 it's much closer to Milwaukee.  Just watch out - I believe Dustin Diamond (Screech) lives there and may have brought the tone of the town down.

West Bend is 45 minutes or so away off Hwy 45.  If the newspapers are to be believed, there are a lot of pedophiles living there - but other than that it seems nice enough.

Madison would be an hour away - it's completely different from Milwaukee - more laid back and open minded.

Then there are tons of little towns farther out from Milwaukee but closer than Sheboygan.  I can't tell you much about them though.

I would avoid Racine and Kenosha.  Kenosha has some bad bad elements and Racine has its iffy areas.

Answer 2

If you want a very nice area still in Milwaukee county, try Wauwatosa, or Whitefish Bay. Whitefish Bay is very expensive and has alot of rich people living in that area.

Wauwatosa is also very nice, and less pricey. It has a nice little downtown village area, plus theres alot of things around (shopping, malls, theaters, etc.), and plus it's considered Milwaukee county, so you're not far from everything in downtown milwaukee either.

Brookfield is very nice, also kind of pricey living. Very good schools there, everything you'd need is close by, and it's also the last stop before milwaukee. Brookfield and Wauwatosa are kind of connected....or right next to each other.

Waukesha has good and bad areas, the west side of Waukesha is really nice, has good schools, and it's a little more rural and "country-esque." It's about a half hour to and hour drive to milwaukee, depending where in waukesha you live, and where in milwaukee your going.

I used to live on the west end of Waukesha and had to commute to the north side of milwaukee every day for work, and it was about a 45min drive.....depending on traffic & weather.

I live in Wauwatosa now, and it's very nice and I love living there. Good people, anything I need is within a mile or two, and it only takes 15 min to get to the lakefront in milwaukee in the summer! Really nice neighborhoods also.

Just a few places to consider. Hope that helps some!!!!!!!!

Good luck.