Huntsville vs Madison

A side-by-side comparison of Huntsville and Madison: population, income, housing, and more.

Huntsville and Madison are places in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Huntsville has the higher population (218,814 vs 58,335 in Madison). Madison has the higher median household income ($131,436 vs $70,778 in Huntsville). Madison has the higher median home value ($367,900 vs $263,100 in Huntsville).

Population, income & housing

	Huntsville	Madison
Population	218,814	58,335
Median age	36.4 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$70,778	$131,436
Median home value	$263,100	$367,900
Median gross rent	$1,078	$1,375
Housing units	102,592	22,688
Homeownership rate	58.1%	74.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.2%	65.9%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Huntsville	Madison
Population	196,219 → 218,814 (+11.5%)	49,327 → 58,335 (+18.3%)
Median household income	$55,305 → $70,778 (+28.0%)	$99,188 → $131,436 (+32.5%)
Median home value	$182,900 → $263,100 (+43.8%)	$253,000 → $367,900 (+45.4%)
Median gross rent	$827 → $1,078 (+30.4%)	$946 → $1,375 (+45.3%)

Huntsville

Population

196,219218,814

Median household income

$55,305$70,778

Median home value

$182,900$263,100

Median gross rent

$827$1,078

Madison

Population

49,32758,335

Median household income

$99,188$131,436

Median home value

$253,000$367,900

Median gross rent

$946$1,375

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Huntsville	Madison
Under 5	5.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	13.9%	22.7%
18 to 24	12.5%	5.7%
25 to 34	15.8%	10.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	16.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	13.6%
55 to 64	12.5%	13.8%
65 to 74	9.2%	7.0%
75 and over	7.3%	4.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Huntsville	Madison
White (non-Hispanic)	56.1%	67.3%
Black or African American	29.4%	12.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	2.0%	7.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Huntsville	Madison
No high school diploma	8.4%	2.2%
High school graduate	17.3%	11.2%
Some college or associate's	28.1%	20.8%
Bachelor's degree	26.7%	36.3%
Graduate or professional degree	19.5%	29.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Huntsville	Madison
Drove alone	77.5%	75.0%
Carpooled	6.8%	4.3%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.3%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.1%	18.8%
Other means	1.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Huntsville	Madison
1-unit, detached	63.2%	76.2%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	16.2%	9.3%
20 or more units	8.6%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Huntsville	Madison
Poverty rate	13.8%	4.0%
Average household size	2.21	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	1984	2000