Milwaukee: City Profile

An overview of the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin that includes discussion of downtown and other neighborhoods, as well as housing, economy, walkability, public transit, crime, and more.

0:00 Intro
1:26 Downtown & Neighborhoods
4:46 Beaches
5:12 Walking & Transit
6:41 Economy
7:22 Poverty & Crime
8:20 Housing
10:14 Outro

Album displayed:
Focus: "Making Waves" (1971)

[Max-bifn]

Great video, I moved to Milwaukee after living in Miami, LA, and NY. Milwaukee is easily the best of the 4 for me and I hope to remain here for life!

[tonypreston]

I love Milwaukee, it’s one of the most underrated cities that gets dunked on a lot. It’s like a mini Chicago. It’s beautiful in my opinion.

[HieronymousLex]

I live in the suburbs outside of Milwaukee, and while we do have our fair share of issues, there’s a lot to appreciate. I love that I’m less than twenty minutes from what feels like a big city, but without many of the annoyances of a place like Chicago. Traffic/parking isn’t nearly as bad, prices are lower, and once you leave the city you can quickly be enjoying the countryside.

You definitely get the local’s stamp of approval on this! This is why I love your channel so much, you don’t just read off the Wikipedia summary and call it at that. You did a great job explaining the city. I love that you mentioned the Oak Leaf Trail, I use it every day for exercise. Well done! This is why I trust you to tell me about other cities :) best US Geography channel hands down

[jmetaljon]

I visited Milwaukee many years ago as a day trip from Chicago. We had no idea where we were going, and clearly didn't see the best the city had to offer. After seeing this video, I wouldn't mind stopping there again one day.

[GalaxyFur]

I live just south of Milwaukee a bit and I can tell you that Milwaukee is really an up-and-coming city. There is a ton of new developments going on and abandoned buildings are being completely renovated all over the place and are being fixed up for higher-end living as well as new developments that are really cleaning up neighborhoods. The city is totally being revitalized from one end to another. It's seeing new skyscrapers going up and good urban planning going in. I can totally see the population starting to tick back up very soon. Plus Milwaukee has a great nightlife. Lots of fun pubs all over and cool nightclubs and a wonderful county zoo and a gorgeous lakefront with absolutely beautiful beaches.

People that come to visit often say how surprised they are at how nice Milwaukee is. It usually always beats people's expectations since they have this negative thought before coming here. Then they quickly find out that Milwaukee isn't some type of run-down dump but a rather beautiful city that is really being rebuilt and modernized.

Plus Milwaukee has top-notch festivals like Summerfest, (the largest outdoor music festival) German Fest and the Wisconsin State Fair on the city border with West Allis.

Milwaukee may be a city worth looking into if you are looking for employment and affordable housing right now. Because I have a feeling people are going to start clamoring to move into Milwaukee in the next 5 years or so since the city is really starting to be rejuvenated with new developments all over. And soon housing will start to rise (As it has already started) as the city starts to be reborn again.

[diannhall]

I lived in Milwaukee County for 35 years. Thank you for sharing your perspective. Milwaukee does have a wonderful mass transit system. The Milwaukee Bucks, Brewers, Admirals and Summerfest.🎶❗️

[Ozmodiar]

I was just in Milwaukee! Came up from Chicago. Three big takeaways: 1) Milwaukee has very little local street traffic, even during rush hour on weekdays. So it's actually practical to take the bus. The buses also run on a regular schedule, from dawn to deep into the night. Very easy and quick to get around.

2) I stayed downtown and hung out mainly in the Lower East Side/Third Ward area. Granted, those are nicer neighborhoods, but I still couldn't believe how safe it felt, even walking alone way after dark.

3) Not surprising, but Milwaukee is loaded with corner taverns. Pretty much every few blocks you'll run into one.

[neils]

Very fair assessment of Milwaukee. Having lived in both Chicago and Milwaukee, there are a couple things you didn't mention if comparing the two. Milwaukee's weather is slightly worse than Chicago because it's about 5 degrees colder all the time, but they don't know what a traffic jam is. Very easy town to navigate.
The Historic 3rd Ward is very quickly becoming the happening place to be.
The Safe House downtown is worth a visit. Very fun.

[mrben]

Just moved away from Milwaukee to Grand Rapids MI (to be near family). I loved my 4 years in MKE and will always have a place for it in my heart.

[sams.]

Great analysis. I'm from Chattanooga and moved to Milwaukee about a year ago and absolutely love it. The diverse culture and amenities available within a 15 minute drive is really impressive. High property taxes makes housing costs a little deceiving but it's is definitely affordable. Milwaukee has the infrastructure to sustainably grow as it's population was more dense in the 1960's. I'm excited to see how the city progresses.

[irefusetoaskmydoctorifyour]

Another great video, Kyle. No clickbait, no fluff, just interesting info from start to finish. That's why you ARE the "Geography KING"!

[rogerpenske]

I’m from Chicago, and I’ve had a blast many times in Milwaukee. Watching the White Sox at old County Stadium, and Indy Car at the Fairgrounds

[kristianzenz]

Hello from West Allis! Love Milwaukee. Downtown has transformed in the past decade but we have yet to see much needed change in the surrounding neighborhoods. Gets a bad rap but is full of great people. Hopefully we see change in the coming months on our legislation so the good land stops getting ignored by the rest of Wisconsin

[drewo]

My town! Thanks for analyzing Milwaukee. Like any city, there are definitely areas I know not to go to at night or spend much time in but overall it's a great, underrated city. I imagine as water scarcity continues to become a major concern in the southwest and western US, more people may flock back to the Great Lakes region and the old rust belt cities that have great infrastructure.

[timewave]

I lived in Milwaukee in the early 2000s, on the Milwaukee School of Engineering campus. Lots of cars getting broken into, but at least muggings were rare. I live closer to Chicago than Milwaukee now, but I still go back occasionally, mostly for concerts at The Rave. Lots of abandoned buildings got turned into condos or shops, or replaced completely, in the last 20 years. I was into Urban Exploration back in the day, and there was plenty of opportunity near the MSOE campus. The University itself owned an abandoned building that it had previously occupied. A shiny new "Computational Science Hall" now stands on the former site of the abandoned building.

[thomassteele]

Great video...I was surprised you did not mention the Summerfest grounds and all of the various ethnic festivals that are held each year. There's a new party just about every weekend, I don't know if Summerfest is still the biggest music festival in the world anymore but it's a highlight of the city.

[JXY]

Downtown is nice. I haven’t explored the rest of the city much. Wisconsin is probably the most underrated state in the whole country.

[aidenryland]

I grew up in western Wisconsin in a suburb of Minneapolis. I know live on the central coast of California. I would go to Milwaukee as kid with my dad to go to Bucks games before they were good lol. I’ve been to Miami, every single major city east of the Rockies, KC and obviously Chicago and I still think it’s one of the most if the most entertaining places to visit in the country.

[Eric-qxkx]

I've spent many weeks in Milwaukee for work, its not bad at all IMO, I'd take it over St. Louis or Chicago any day. Plus, they have the best grocery store in the US in Woodman's Market...!!

[ReverendMeat]

I only spent a year in Milwaukee but it still made a strong impression. I miss the neighborhood bars, the people, and a larger sense of just being part of a community in general that's hard to describe but I haven't found anywhere I've lived before or since