- My fiancée and I met in St. Petersburg, Florida, and lived there for seven years.
- We loved the hip downtown, but the area got too crowded and expensive for us.
- So, we moved close to her family in a small Wisconsin town and were able to buy our first home.
I’ve lived in North Carolina, Oregon, Illinois, and Florida, but Wisconsin feels like my true home after being here for just one year.
As a native Southerner, my family scoffed at my idea of moving to Wisconsin. After all, most people we know move from the North to the South to escape cold winters, not the other way around.
However, after seven years, my fiancée and I felt our Florida phase was over: We were ready to stop renting studio apartments and buy a piece of property with a comparable monthly cost.
We found exactly what we were looking for in Southeastern Wisconsin.
St. Petersburg became crowded and costly during our stint there
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When we first moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, it still had the charm of an up-and-coming city.
New businesses were opening downtown, including coffee shops and craft breweries, which we felt signaled a new horizon for the once-sleepy retirement community.
Our predictions were right, and by 2021 we could feel the surge of new residents. The nightlife was vibrant, the restaurants were world-class, and the art scene was booming.
But new apartment buildings were also popping up, and it quickly became difficult to find even a studio-sized apartment with in-unit laundry that fit our budget.
We rented an accessory dwelling unit behind a bungalow-style house a few blocks from the ocean. It was a nice setup, but we quickly outgrew the 500-square-foot space.
After I landed a remote job, we agreed that our real-estate ambitions could take shape anywhere. Wisconsin, where my fiancée’s family lives, was at the top of the list.
Real-estate affordability sealed the deal for our move to the Midwest
I fell in love with the landscape, culture, and overall vibe of rural Wisconsin, but house prices were our main motivation for leaving Florida and buying in the Midwest.
The average home price in Florida is $386,892, while the average home price in Wisconsin is $301,659, according to the Zillow Home Value Index.
Our studio apartment in Florida cost us $1,100 a month, not including utilities. Our current four-bedroom home cost about $200,000, which we’re paying for with a standard 30-year mortgage. Our monthly payment is around $1,200 a month.
So, our monthly cost for owning a large home in Wisconsin is comparable to when we rented a small apartment in Florida.
Although Wisconsin does have higher taxes than Florida, we still save money by living in a rural area with cheaper food, gas, and utilities.
Our lifestyle change also helps us save. Fewer dining and entertainment options mean we go out less, so we instead opt for free activities, like hiking or swimming.
So far, we’ve enjoyed living in a smaller town
Photos by Michael Crowley/Getty Images
I grew up watching “The Andy Griffith Show” with my grandpa, so I always dreamt of living in a place like Mayberry where I’d know all my neighbors.
As a North Carolina boy, I never thought I’d find Mayberry in Southern Wisconsin, but I’ve fallen in love with our home here.
We enjoy the outdoors, so being close to beautiful lakes, hiking trails, and camping destinations was appealing. I even kept up my surfing hobby on Lake Michigan.
The town we chose is also full of charm. A new coffee shop, restaurant, and speakeasy bar opened in recent years, and we found ourselves in the same hipster atmosphere that made Florida so appealing — just on a smaller scale.
Pinellas County, Florida, is the most densely populated county in the state, with over 3,400 people per square mile. Walworth County, Wisconsin, has just 191.7 people per square mile.
We’ve been in our new house for almost a year, and we enjoy our new small-town lifestyle. I’m grateful remote work made more rural living possible for us.
Recently, we even visited our old stomping grounds in Florida. Although we’d missed the beach, we still didn’t regret our decision to swap palm trees for pine trees.
