Madison vs Waunakee

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

Madison and Waunakee 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 14,927 in Waunakee). Waunakee has the higher median household income ($128,750 vs $76,983 in Madison). Waunakee has the higher median home value ($490,300 vs $346,900 in Madison).

Population, income & housing

	Madison	Waunakee
Population	275,568	14,927
Median age	31.8 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$76,983	$128,750
Median home value	$346,900	$490,300
Median gross rent	$1,364	$1,236
Housing units	130,848	5,660
Homeownership rate	46.6%	76.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	59.2%	62.0%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	1.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Madison	Waunakee
Population	254,977 → 275,568 (+8.1%)	13,730 → 14,927 (+8.7%)
Median household income	$65,332 → $76,983 (+17.8%)	$112,845 → $128,750 (+14.1%)
Median home value	$246,300 → $346,900 (+40.8%)	$346,300 → $490,300 (+41.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,118 → $1,364 (+22.0%)	$1,013 → $1,236 (+22.0%)

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

Waunakee

Population

13,73014,927

Median household income

$112,845$128,750

Median home value

$346,300$490,300

Median gross rent

$1,013$1,236

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Madison	Waunakee
Under 5	4.8%	6.2%
5 to 17	11.6%	23.1%
18 to 24	20.3%	4.8%
25 to 34	18.7%	7.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	17.8%
45 to 54	9.6%	17.3%
55 to 64	9.5%	9.7%
65 to 74	7.7%	8.6%
75 and over	5.0%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Madison	Waunakee
White (non-Hispanic)	70.3%	87.5%
Black or African American	7.0%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	7.9%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Madison	Waunakee
No high school diploma	4.3%	1.1%
High school graduate	14.6%	13.1%
Some college or associate's	21.9%	23.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.5%	39.7%
Graduate or professional degree	25.6%	22.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Madison	Waunakee
Drove alone	57.6%	69.9%
Carpooled	5.9%	8.5%
Public transit	5.8%	0.0%
Walked	8.2%	2.0%
Bicycle	3.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	18.2%	18.9%
Other means	1.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Madison	Waunakee
1-unit, detached	40.7%	65.2%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	10.5%
2 to 4 units	11.4%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	14.5%	7.2%
20 or more units	27.9%	11.8%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Madison	Waunakee
Poverty rate	16.2%	3.7%
Average household size	2.09	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1979	1997