Madison, WI

Unemployment of 2.9%, lower than in 93% of the 835 measured US metro and micro areas.

Employment grew 0.2% over the past year, to 398,282 employed residents.

50% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 97% of measured US metro and micro areas.

Median household income of $88,804 is higher than in 91% of measured US metro and micro areas.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 4% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 95.9, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for this area is up 49% over five years, and up 4.9% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $5,932 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.59% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,694, some 25% above the $1,354 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,694 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $67,800 a year, about 76% of the median household income here of $88,804.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,354 a month.

A median home at $372,400 costs 3.2 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $117,968, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 12°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 37.1 inches, including 51.8 inches of snow.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime

Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.

Death-certificate rates

The CDC publishes these rates by county, so a metropolitan area carries none of its own. The county profiles inside it do.

Air quality

The EPA publishes an air-quality index by county, and only where a monitor sits, so a metropolitan area carries none of its own. The county profiles inside it show it where one exists.

Taxes

Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.

Anything about a specific address

Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

• #5Lowest Physical-Risk Metros of 40

Every ranking is a standing calculation over all published profiles, not an editorial selection. Each one states its cohort, its inputs and what it excludes.

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.