Some good news for commercial real estate professionals and anyone else interested in touting the benefits of doing business and working in Milwaukee? A recent report from Forbes Home ranked Wisconsin’s largest metropolis as the 19th best city to move to in 2024.
Milwaukee outranked such other major Midwest cities as Nashville, Detroit, Memphis and Chicago.
Forbes Home analyzed the 50 most-populated U.S. cities and studied 12 metrics across four categories: value, quality of life, job maket and desirability. Each city had the chance to score up to 100 points.
Milwaukee notched a total score of 58.09, ahead of Nashville’s 54.54, Detroit’s 39.72, Memphis’ 31.46 and Chicago’s 18.03.
Midwest cities scoring higher than Milwaukee include Omaha, which nabbed a total score of 100 to earn the top spot on Forbes’ Best Cities to Move to in 2024 list.
Wichita, Kansas, which ranked fourth, earned a score of 80.02, while Louisville earned a score of 76.81, good for seventh place, and Columbus a score of 74.63, giving it the 10th spot in Forbes Home’s survey.
Indianapolis earned a score of 72.79, good for 11th place, while Kansas City’s score of 62.11 gave it a ranking of 16th and Minneapolis’ 61.77 earned it 17th place.
How did Milwaukee score in Forbes’ metrics? Forbes reported that the average monthly housing cost in Milwaukee stood at $1,016, while the city boasts an employment rate of 97%. The median family income in Milwaukee was $61,735, while the crime rate per 1,000 residents stood at 51.
Milwaukee did not fare well when it came to net migration. Forbes Home reported that from 2016 to 2020, Milwaukee lost more than 9,200 residents.