Nona Willis Aronowitz for The Atlantic’s CityLab on Why These Midwest Millennials Are Choosing Milwaukee Over Chicago:

Milwaukee, a city of almost 600,000, has a lot to offer twentysomethings: relatively affordable housing, unique restaurants and bars, a rich cultural scene, and a famous art museum, not to mention a gorgeous Great Lake. It’s also a mere one-and-a-half hour car ride from Chicago, one of the biggest and most vibrant cities in the country. Milwaukee isn’t a commuter town, but it’s not a figurative island, either. Many young people I spoke with described it as a sort of “mini-Chicago,” or perhaps what Chicago used to be a few decades ago—a city that has retained its blue-collar roots while still offering certain amenities for ambitious Millennials.

I came for a job, but I’ve stayed becuase it’s a pretty nice place to live and much cheaper than most other places I ever imagine moving to (which helps make it an even nicer place to live of course).