Best PlacesMadison, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Madison, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Madison ranks 41,913th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Madison
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Madison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Madison ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
Where Madison ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,550 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 4% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Madison
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,067, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Madison's effective rate of 0.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Madison
Madison's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Madison.
Who works in Madison, and how
Work in Madison centers on agriculture & forestry and other services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Madison
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Madison.
What the weather is like in Madison, month by month
Madison sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 42° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 58° |
| October | 80° | 64° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Madison
Sacramento International sits about 20 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Madison
Schools across Madison average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Esparto ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Esparto MiddleD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodland Senior HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Esparto HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madison measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Madison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Madison
Is Madison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madison ranks 41,913th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and transit, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $418,989. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $82,067 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Madison safe?
Madison is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $640 per resident a year.
Compare Madison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madison represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Madison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madison detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.