23 Jun CapTimes Opinion | Gen Z is choosing Madison in surprisingly large numbers
Twentysomethings are coming to Madison in large numbers for good jobs, affordability and cultural amenities like the Madison Night Market, shown above earlier this month. The trend is gaining steam, experts say.
RUTHIE HAUGE
The Madison of past decades was always considered a wonderful place to live if you were attending college or, later, settling down, perhaps marrying and starting a family.
In between, so this generalization went, many twentysomethings would head off to more urban locales — Chicago or huge coastal cities — to establish careers, relish the culture and be surrounded by people like themselves.
Things have changed.
Madison has morphed from being a cool flyover city, you know, the Berkeley of the Midwest, to what it is today — a serious technology hub, with many thousands of good tech jobs and an accompanying uptick in cultural amenities. Then factor in the pandemic, when the allure of dense urban living waned a bit.
And voilà, Wisconsin’s capital city is suddenly — well, suddenly to me anyway — a red-hot place for twentysomethings from all over the country.
Stories and statistics bear that out.
“I moved to (Madison) Wisconsin instead of New York City or San Francisco,” proclaimed a headline on the Insider website last month. “I can afford to live in a big place with my boyfriend and our cats while still enjoying great sports and music.”
The woman name is Alex Akmal. She’s 23, works at Epic, and told the interviewer: “I fell in love with Madison’s friendliness and college town flair.”