Madison vs Sun Prairie

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

Madison and Sun Prairie 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 36,455 in Sun Prairie). Sun Prairie has the higher median household income ($90,521 vs $76,983 in Madison). Madison has the higher median home value ($346,900 vs $339,800 in Sun Prairie).

Population, income & housing

	Madison	Sun Prairie
Population	275,568	36,455
Median age	31.8 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$76,983	$90,521
Median home value	$346,900	$339,800
Median gross rent	$1,364	$1,374
Housing units	130,848	15,657
Homeownership rate	46.6%	61.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	59.2%	50.9%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	2.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Madison	Sun Prairie
Population	254,977 → 275,568 (+8.1%)	33,321 → 36,455 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$65,332 → $76,983 (+17.8%)	$77,139 → $90,521 (+17.3%)
Median home value	$246,300 → $346,900 (+40.8%)	$239,200 → $339,800 (+42.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,118 → $1,364 (+22.0%)	$1,087 → $1,374 (+26.4%)

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

Sun Prairie

Population

33,32136,455

Median household income

$77,139$90,521

Median home value

$239,200$339,800

Median gross rent

$1,087$1,374

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Madison	Sun Prairie
Under 5	4.8%	5.7%
5 to 17	11.6%	19.3%
18 to 24	20.3%	7.2%
25 to 34	18.7%	14.3%
35 to 44	12.8%	16.6%
45 to 54	9.6%	10.9%
55 to 64	9.5%	12.0%
65 to 74	7.7%	7.5%
75 and over	5.0%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Madison	Sun Prairie
White (non-Hispanic)	70.3%	74.9%
Black or African American	7.0%	8.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	7.9%	7.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	4.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Madison	Sun Prairie
No high school diploma	4.3%	2.7%
High school graduate	14.6%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	21.9%	25.0%
Bachelor's degree	33.5%	34.2%
Graduate or professional degree	25.6%	16.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Madison	Sun Prairie
Drove alone	57.6%	71.7%
Carpooled	5.9%	6.0%
Public transit	5.8%	0.7%
Walked	8.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	3.1%	0.8%
Worked from home	18.2%	18.3%
Other means	1.3%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Madison	Sun Prairie
1-unit, detached	40.7%	50.4%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	12.1%
2 to 4 units	11.4%	9.3%
5 to 19 units	14.5%	9.6%
20 or more units	27.9%	18.6%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Madison	Sun Prairie
Poverty rate	16.2%	6.1%
Average household size	2.09	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1979	1998