Best PlacesSunset Village, Madison, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sunset Village, 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.
Sunset Village, Madison ranks 975th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sunset Village, 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.
Sunset Village, Madison's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sunset Village, Madison ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
Where Sunset Village, Madison ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods
- Crime safetyBetter than only 25% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than only 31% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than only 36% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 38% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Sunset Village, Madison
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sunset Village, Madison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $101,646, 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 Sunset Village, Madison's effective rate of 1.62%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sunset Village, Madison
Sunset Village, Madison runs younger 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 Sunset Village, Madison.
Who works in Sunset Village, Madison, and how
Work in Sunset Village, Madison centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 45%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Sunset Village, Madison
Sunset Village, Madison has more parkland per resident than 90% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Sunset Village, Madison and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sunset Village, Madison, month by month
Sunset Village, Madison sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Sunset Village, Madison
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sunset Village, Madison
Schools across Sunset Village, Madison average a B+, better than 82% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Van Hise ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hamilton MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- West HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sunset Village, Madison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sunset Village, 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 Sunset Village, Madison against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Sunset Village, Madison
Is Sunset Village, Madison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sunset Village, Madison ranks 975th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on an educated workforce, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sunset Village, Madison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $480,412. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $101,646 median income, cost of living beats 77% of neighborhoods.
Is Sunset Village, Madison safe?
Sunset Village, Madison is safer than 25% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $663 per resident a year.
Compare Sunset Village, Madison with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sunset Village, Madison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sunset Village, 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.
Sunset Village, Madison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sunset Village, Madison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sunset Village, Madison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sunset Village, Madison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sunset Village, Madison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sunset Village, 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.