[brickfaced]

Glad your friends' experiences are exceptional. I know a woman working for Epic in the Madison area who miscarried due to work stress. Madison housing is also a lot less affordable these days, assuming you want to actually live in Madison and not a copy-paste Verona suburb w/ zero walkability:

https://captimes.com/news/madison-home-prices-increased-the-...

And living in Madison means commuting to Epic in Verona, which means contending with Beltline traffic just as bad as 280 during rush hour.

[shigawire]

I know locals like to complain about the beltline, but as someone who has driven in LA, SF, Chicago, NY, it is wild to compare it to any big city traffic.

[brickfaced]

It's not in the same league as LA, NY, or Chicago but definitely up there (albeit during shorter time windows) with Silicon Valley commuter traffic. Part of a common theme of living in Madison where you get downsides of city living- traffic, high taxes, high housing costs- without many upsides such as good public transport, a diversified job market, or a well-developed food scene.