Is Madison, WI a good rental market?
Live data for ZIP 53703 (Dane County), cross-checked against FHFA HPI, Census ACS, HUD Fair Market Rent, and FBI crime records. Updated on each visit. See Dane County housing data
Madison, WI is a moderate market — a 19.2x price-to-rent ratio is borderline, leaning renting; individual deals decide the outcome.
- The median home value in Madison (ZIP 53703), WI was $450,167 as of September 2026, down 5.4% year over year (ZIP market index, cross-checked against FHFA HPI).
- The typical market rent in Madison (ZIP 53703), WI was $1,953/mo as of September 2026, up 1.5% year over year (ZIP market-rent index).
- Madison (ZIP 53703), WI has a price-to-rent ratio of 19.2 — a reading that favors buying at the ZIP-index basis, while the like-for-like county basis (26.1x, county ACS value × county HUD FMR) favors renting — mixed, depending on the rent you actually face. (Computed by Areal from the figures above.)
$450,167
Likely range $450,167–$490,118
$1,953/mo
Likely range $1,744–$1,953
19.2x
$89,975
1,690/100k/yr
Cash flow at standard assumptions
20% down, 6.75% interest, 30-year loan, 1 unit · estimates only · Insurance: state-level estimate (WI avg 0.42%/yr)
Monthly cash flow
$-1,639
Cash-on-cash return
-21.8%
Cap rate
1.9%
Annual cash flow
$-19,663
Stress test
Resilience not scored — baseline already negativeA resilience score measures how many shocks a cash-flow-positive deal survives — with the baseline at −$1,639/mo there is nothing to protect, so there is no score (worst case −$2,008/mo). The rows below show how much deeper underwater each shock pushes the deal; the break-even math (rent, price, down payment, rate) lives in the cash-flow panel above.
Standard assumption · cash flow −$1,785/mo
Standard assumption · cash flow −$1,697/mo
Standard assumption · cash flow −$1,678/mo
Fixed-rate comparison — the deal if you'd borrowed at a higher rate today; your actual fixed payment never resets · cash flow −$2,008/mo
History-derived: worst decline found in any window of up to 12 months in this market's rent series, 2017-10-01 → 2018-05-01 · cash flow −$1,700/mo
Each scenario re-runs the same verified cash-flow engine with one shock applied, then re-checks the cash-flow identity before display. Standard shocks are fixed assumptions; the history-derived scenario is this market's own worst observed 12-month decline. Estimates only — not a guarantee of performance.
Report integrity
Every headline figure is independently re-derived from its raw inputs (cash-flow identity, cash-on-cash, cap rate, price-to-rent, and closed-form buy-vs-rent compounding) — the same checks the interactive analyzer runs.
Report integrity — internal re-derivation
17/17 verifiedHow the integrity pass works
Every headline figure is re-derived from the raw inputs (NOI − P&I = cash flow, CoC, cap rate) and the data feed's age is checked before the report is shown. This validates our own arithmetic — it is not independent source validation; the cross-dataset check is the data-confidence card above. An entry marked “by design” (e.g. price-to-rent) is the expected split between market rent and your rent estimate — two deliberately separate reads, not an arithmetic error.
Data quality
Verified — sources agree within 15% on every cross-checked metric
ZIP market index (ZIP, monthly): $450,167 · Census ACS county median × FHFA metro HPI (current): $490,118
Spread −$39,951 · 0.92× ratio
ZIP market-rent index (ZIP, monthly): $1,953 · Census ACS county gross rent, inflated to current via the ACS rent trend: $1,744
Spread +$209 · 1.12× ratio
Data quality score
90/100
- + Cross-checks agree within 15% on every headline metric
- + 2 figures each cross-checked against a second, independent source
- + All 2 cross-checked metric pairs agreed within tolerance
- + Current home value observation (Sep 2026) — current for monthly cadence
- + Current rent observation (Sep 2026) — current for monthly cadence
A data-quality score, not statistical confidence — it measures how well independent public sources agree, how consistent the geography is, and how fresh the data is. Survey margins of error (e.g. ACS MOEs) are not part of it. Every point is earned or lost by a reason listed above, so the score itself is auditable.
How we check this — sources, cross-checks and thresholds
Cross-checks compare two separately produced figures — not our own math re-run — and each check names its own basis. Rent: a current ZIP market-rent-index figure is checked against HUD Small Area FMR where one exists, or against Census ACS gross rent inflated to current dollars with the same ACS rent trend the charts use — a raw ~2021 ACS figure is never compared to a current one. Home value: the check pairs our current FHFA-updated estimate against the raw ACS vintage, so its spread mostly reflects price movement since the ACS measurement period (~2021). These sources measure different things (administrative benchmarks vs. rents reported by existing tenants), so disagreement is information, not error. The report shows the spread rather than averaging it away.
FHFA HPI through 2026-04-01 · ACS 2024 5-year estimates · HUD FY2027 · pulled 2026-11-14T11:48Z
Every headline metric is checked against a second figure, and each check names its own basis. Home value: the current ZIP market-index figure is paired against the county ACS × FHFA HPI estimate (current) — the spread measures ZIP-vs-county geography and methodology, not data age. Rent: the current ZIP market-rent-index figure is paired against HUD Small Area FMR when one exists for the ZIP, otherwise against the Census ACS county gross rent INFLATED to current dollars with the same ACS rent trend the rent chart uses (a raw ~2021 ACS figure is never compared to a current one). 'Verified' means the two figures agree within 15%; 'Cross-checked' means they diverge more than 15%; 'Divergent' flags a >2x difference. A spread beyond 35% is too wide to defend a single point — the headline shows the source range instead, flagged 'sources disagree'.
Madison rental market — common questions
Is Madison, WI a good rental market?
Mixed. Madison's 19.2x price-to-rent ratio is moderate; rentals can cash flow, but only on well-priced properties.
What is the median home value in Madison?
The typical home value in Madison is about $450,167 (ZIP-level market index, cross-checked against the Census ACS county median updated by FHFA HPI), down 5.4% year-over-year, and down 3.0% over five years.
What is the median rent in Madison?
The typical rent in Madison is about $1,953/mo (ZIP-level market-rent index, cross-checked against HUD Small Area FMR), up 1.5% year-over-year.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Madison?
Over a 7-year horizon, renting is cheaper in Madison by about $164,768 — buying only pays off if prices appreciate faster than projected.
Is Madison affordable for homebuyers?
Madison's median home value is 5.0x the local median household income — Stretched (>5x — historically expensive vs local incomes).
More rental markets
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — ACS ACS 2024 5-year estimates
- FHFA House Price Index
- HUD Fair Market Rent
- FBI Crime Data Explorer
Data vintages: ACS 2024 5-year estimates · HUD FY2027. For research only — verify before investing.
Areal provides area-level data for research purposes only — not an appraisal, not financial advice. Verify independently before acting.
Data from published market indexes, FHFA HPI, Census ACS, HUD Fair Market Rent, and FBI CDE — each card discloses its own vintage.