Best PlacesMadison, FL 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 47,142nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
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
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$611 a month, better than 78% of towns
Where Madison ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,405 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Madison
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $37,405, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 0.78%, 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 3 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 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller 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 public administration and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Madison
Madison has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Madison and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Madison, month by month
Madison sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 67, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 67° | 52° | 39° |
| April | 83° | 68° | 53° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 85° | 70° | 58° |
Flying in and out of Madison
The nearest airport, Valdosta Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Jacksonville International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madison
Schools across Madison average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Madison Creative Arts Academy IncA · 63% proficient
- Madison County Central SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- James Madison Preparatory High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Madison County High SchoolC · 34% 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 47,142nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and walkability, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. 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 $105,747. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $37,405 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Madison safe?
Madison is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $248 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.