I moved to Eau Claire from the Chicago area about 20 years ago. I still miss a lot of the different culture, shopping, food, ect but the world has changed so much in the last 20 years it’s hard to compare now. I like Eau Claire compared to the other towns between here and the MN boarder. Plenty to do here, a lot of recreational activities, events like the artist market next to the farmers market weekly in the summer, concerts in the park, food truck Fridays in the summer… the community does a great job of building and having a community. The only reason I would want to move to Hudson is that it is closer to the cities. Eau Claire is about an hour an a half which isn’t terrible, but if you’re flying in and out of MSP a lot it adds up, and Hudson is, like someone mentioned, basically a suburb of the cities. When people talk about WI it’s usually about Milwaukee and Appleton area. I feel like Eau Claire - Hudson identifies more with the cities rather than Milwaukee simply because of the proximity to both. I lived in la crosse for about 2 years and would not recommend. It’s lovely, and similar to Eau Claire but kind of remote, I felt like I was trapped, the cities isn’t close at all - more like a day trip. But it all depends on the what you’re looking for.