Fitchburg vs Madison

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

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

Madison has the higher population (275,568 vs 31,566 in Fitchburg). Fitchburg has the higher median household income ($85,420 vs $76,983 in Madison). Fitchburg has the higher median home value ($389,400 vs $346,900 in Madison).

Population, income & housing

	Fitchburg	Madison
Population	31,566	275,568
Median age	34.7 yrs	31.8 yrs
Median household income	$85,420	$76,983
Median home value	$389,400	$346,900
Median gross rent	$1,302	$1,364
Housing units	15,274	130,848
Homeownership rate	45.9%	46.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.0%	59.2%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fitchburg	Madison
Population	29,450 → 31,566 (+7.2%)	254,977 → 275,568 (+8.1%)
Median household income	$72,324 → $85,420 (+18.1%)	$65,332 → $76,983 (+17.8%)
Median home value	$315,900 → $389,400 (+23.3%)	$246,300 → $346,900 (+40.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,054 → $1,302 (+23.5%)	$1,118 → $1,364 (+22.0%)

Fitchburg

Population

29,45031,566

Median household income

$72,324$85,420

Median home value

$315,900$389,400

Median gross rent

$1,054$1,302

Madison

Population

254,977275,568

Median household income

$65,332$76,983

Median home value

$246,300$346,900

Median gross rent

$1,118$1,364

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fitchburg	Madison
Under 5	5.6%	4.8%
5 to 17	11.8%	11.6%
18 to 24	10.8%	20.3%
25 to 34	22.7%	18.7%
35 to 44	14.2%	12.8%
45 to 54	10.1%	9.6%
55 to 64	10.5%	9.5%
65 to 74	9.6%	7.7%
75 and over	4.8%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fitchburg	Madison
White (non-Hispanic)	59.9%	70.3%
Black or African American	9.8%	7.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	9.8%	7.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.7%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	16.3%	9.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fitchburg	Madison
No high school diploma	6.7%	4.3%
High school graduate	16.7%	14.6%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	21.9%
Bachelor's degree	32.8%	33.5%
Graduate or professional degree	24.2%	25.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fitchburg	Madison
Drove alone	72.0%	57.6%
Carpooled	7.1%	5.9%
Public transit	0.4%	5.8%
Walked	4.2%	8.2%
Bicycle	0.6%	3.1%
Worked from home	13.7%	18.2%
Other means	1.9%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fitchburg	Madison
1-unit, detached	35.9%	40.7%
1-unit, attached	7.0%	4.7%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	11.4%
5 to 19 units	19.9%	14.5%
20 or more units	31.5%	27.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Fitchburg	Madison
Poverty rate	7.5%	16.2%
Average household size	2.06	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	20	19
Median year structure built	1995	1979