Hello,
We are moving from Seattle to Madison in a few months. We need advice on which neighborhoods we should consider living in. Our children are going to Madison Country Day School in Waunakee. My husband is going to work in Madison near the university. We’d like a safe neighborhood, preferably an established one with character, and our maximum price range is $900,000. We’ve looked online in Waunakee but the homes we’ve seen have mainly been in newer developments which isn’t our first preference. One area we’ve considered is Maple Bluff as it looks like the commute to school wouldn’t be too bad. Can anyone recommend other neighborhoods within commuting distance to the school that might meet our criteria? Thanks so much!
I don’t think there are many established neighborhoods with homes that expensive in Madison. It’s a state Capitol, but…it’s still Wisconsin. There are some nice middle-class homes just west of downtown, but nothing anywhere near as expensive as you’re looking for. You may have to choose between close-to-downtown and high-priced.
Thanks! We’re more than happy to spend less ������. I just thought it would be helpful to give a price range.
It gets cold there, and still is right now. I’d advise to delay your move until late May or even June, if you can. Good luck.
Shorewood Hills but it’s a trek to Wauankee.
You could also try Bishops Bay, which is located along County M in Middleton. The development was built in the mid 90’s. I haven’t lived in Madison area for awhile but it was definitely a high end neighborhood when first built.
Here is a link to current homes for sale which look to be in the 600K to 1 million:
Madison is a terrific city - so congrats on your decision to relocate to it! I’ll hope you end up loving it as much as I do!
I think I can be of some help in describing neighborhoods for you if I can better zero in on what you mean by “character”. Do you want to be in a very walkable part of the city? - Leave your dwelling on foot and be able to find yourselves in a café within 5 minutes? Are you opposed to condo living? Is having a big backyard important to you? Comfort level - say on a scale of 1-10 - living in very “liberal”/diverse neighborhoods? Timewise, what is a reasonable drive time to get your kids to/from school? More info about what type of housing and neighborhood specifics would help me make suggestions for you.
Personally, I love being near the Capital - the heart of downtown. With your budget you could get an amazing condo in that area.
For single-family homes east of the Capital: Atwood, Marquette, and Willy Street neighborhoods have a lot of what I’d call ‘character’.
Shorewood is lovely and where you would find some of the priciest real estate (single family homes) within the city. It is a hair west of campus. Hilldale would be a decent option for west of campus, too.
A little more info & I can perhaps offer more insight.
Depends if 20 minutes is a “trek” for you. I live very close University and Midvale, just south of Shorewood, and Waunakee is 20 minutes from here, in large part because you would need to drive around the lake.
I agree that Bishops Bay is an upscale development very conveniently located for Waunakee. It’s south of Waunakee, but north of the lake, so maybe 5-10 minutes away. There’s a lot of more or less undeveloped land in that area, so if you’re looking for something that has a bit more of a rural feel to it, that’s a good are to look in.
Middleton is reasonably upscale and spreads out to the west from Bishop’s Bay. If you’re looking for an area with somewhat more conventional neighborhoods, it would be a good choice.
Oh yeah, if you want more established areas with character, look further east in the the Northport Drive area or around Sherman Ave. They are considerably less upscale, and some people will tell you they’re more dangerous, but from my perspective (having lived in MUCH bigger cities) the danger is seriously exagerated by people who never experience ANY danger.
I would say that along Regent St. just west of downtown is a nice mix of upscale and moderate-income housing, but getting farther away from Waunakee. OTOH, it’s VERY close to the University campus.
FYI, while there is a main campus in the downtown area, there are UW offices and buildings scattered all over the area. If you find out exactly where he’ll be working, it might make a difference where you choose to settle.
Thanks so much for your offer to help. Condo living would not work for us as we have children and two active terriers. Also, my husband loves to garden so we’d want a reasonably good sized yard. By character I mean that I’d love to live in a neighborhood where the houses are not all the same and where there is evidence of pride in home ownership and homes are well-maintained. In a perfect world, we’d be able to walk to restaurants and shops but that’s secondary to our other needs. We definitely need a neighborhood that is good for dog walking - either wide streets or sidewalks. I’m more concerned about the commute to Madison Country Day than I am the commute to my husband’s work since I will be dropping off and picking up children for two round trips a day. I’m not certain how bad traffic is and I’m interested in exploring options with a commute preferably under 20 minutes to the school. They may offer carpooling or bus service in which case the distance wouldn’t be quite as critical. Thank you so much again for your time.
Well, your comments rule out most of Bishop’s Bay and even Middleton, as they consist of developments where all the building for blocks around look the same.
In Madison, the farther west you go, the more you find large developments. So, I think you want to look south of downtown/campus (Regent St.) or on the northeast side as I mentioned before, around Northport and Sherman. Williamson Street is known the area where all the ex-hippies live (lots of character!). It’s a little further into town. so a little further a commute.
If it makes you feel better, almost noplace in the area is genuinely dangerous. The places with the worst reps are known as the “Allied Drive” and “Southtowne” areas.
But the farther south you go, the farther away you get from the school.
I can’t say I know anything about the residential areas of Waunakee itself, but real estate taxes wi almost certainly be considerably lower than Madison.
Here’s a site with information about Madison neighborhoods. On the map, UW main campus is pretty much right between the 2 big lakes (the isthmus) and extends off the isthmus to the west.
Waunakee is just on the wrong side of the lake to be anywhere close to campus. I take it that choosing another day school is not an option? Day care only lasts a couple years. A career lasts much longer.
Lots of professors and university admin staff live in the neighborhood between Monroe St and Vilas park. Stay closer to Lake Wingra and the football games won’t be much of a factor. The neighborhood is very walk-able and is well established. But the drive out to Waunakee would seriously suck.
Otherwise I would look closely around Maple Bluff or Middleton. Both have their quite nice areas and the drive to Waunakee would be much more manageable.
How about on the other side? Hwy 19 goes through Sun Prairie so that commute is probably doable. Though the commute to the University would be longer.
Brian
It’s been years since I lived in Madison, but it’s my recollection that Maple Bluff was one of the (if not THE) most expensive neighborhoods in the area. So I’d assume it’s safe, for those who can afford it.
I’m assuming you have good reasons for wanting to send your kids to school in Waunakee, but it’s not going to be convenient to get to Waunakee from most places in Madison. The North Side of Madison isn’t very big (due to Lake Mendota), and the neighborhoods closest to Waunakee are far from most places in Madison you’d ever want to go to, including the UW campus.
ETA: The suggestion of Middleton strikes me as a pretty good one. I remember Middleton as being a cute little town that’s pressed right up against the West Side of Madison, and to get to Waunakee from there you’d be driving through the country rather than dealing with city traffic. It’s not ALL that far from campus, either.
Middleton is a good location, but it’s now mostly big cookie-cutter real estate developments, which the OP sound not too enthusiastic about.
Well, to be brutally honest here, I think the OP has unrealistic expectations and is probably going to have to compromise on something.
That said, I found Madison Country Day School on the map and it’s closer to Madison than I’d assumed. It’s within a reasonable drive of more neighborhoods on the North and near East Sides than I had thought. But my knowledge of that part of town is limited and really out of date, so I couldn’t recommend any specific places.
Stay away from anything mapped as “Town of Madison.” Your insurance rates will be higher, and the police/fire departments are (were?) slow to respond. And there is crime there. Also avoid that area north of the lake near the old Mendota State Hospital.
I would avoid Monona. It’s not ghastly, but the houses tend to be not very well kept up. Middleton is fine, but bland. Fitchburg is another possibility, but it may have gone downhill in recent years. Maple Bluff=posh.
There’s a neighborhood near Vilas Zoo which is nice, if you can deal with random people parked in front of your house. If you get closer to St. Mary’s hospital, the parking situation isn’t as annoying. My favorite neighborhood is Nakoma. The Atwood area is very nice and reasonable, and is gentrifying. Far east are some older subdivisions which tend to have cheaper real estate.
It turns out that carpooling is available and 50% of students at Madison Country Day are from Madison. If we take the commute to school out of the equation, what neighborhoods would you recommend based on the criteria I listed? To the poster who suggested another school, MCDS is a K - 12 school, not a daycare. The only other private schools I’ve seen are catholic and since we’re Jewish, that won’t work for us. Thank you all so very much for your help - I really appreciate it!
I lived in Madison for 15+ years, then moved to Chicago and finally ended up in Eastern Washington. I have spent some time in Seattle and would be curious what neighborhood you live in there as a basis for making recommendations about Madison.
Think of Madison as a scaled down version of the Seattle area in the sense of bodies of water. Seattle has Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east. Madison, first and foremost, is one of a few cities built on an isthmus, with the downtown (State Street and Capitol) being at the center. Madison is built around four lakes that, simply stated, defy the logic of saying the shortest distance between two points by car is a straight line.
The main streets: Johnson, Gorham, Washington and Williamson (Willy Street) downtown run primarily southwest to northeast. As you move toward the north and east you will come to Tenney Park, Atwood and Maple Bluff. As you move south and west from downtown you will encounter Vilas, Shorewood, etc. Many areas within a short distance of the campus are punctuated with multi-story flats that serve as student housing. The most “urban” areas fall into this category but, with the exception of Maple Bluff, the houses are all relatively small lots most likely similar to most areas within close proximity to downtown Seattle.
There are new developments on the far west (west of US 12) that are quite nice and on large lots, etc but are far away from most “urban” living.
BTW, the Beth Israel Center, located at 1406 Mound, is very close to Vilas Park and near the Monroe Street and Nakoma neighborhoods.