Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Madison might be more expensive than living in rural Wisconsin, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Madison neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Madison are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Madison for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Heritage Heights looks to be the cheapest Madison neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Madison. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Madison that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Madison.
For more Wisconsin reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Wisconsin
- Cheapest Places To Live In Wisconsin
- Cheapest Cities To Live In America
- Cheapest States To Live In America
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Madison For 2024
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Population: 2,180
Cost Of Living Index: 102 (30th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.6 (10th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (5th cheapest)
More on Heritage Heights: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,043
Cost Of Living Index: 101 (25th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (34th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (17th cheapest)
More on Bluff Acres: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,590
Cost Of Living Index: 106 (46th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.0 (29th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.006 (cheapest)
More on Wexford: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,139
Cost Of Living Index: 112 (68th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (3rd cheapest)
More on Country Grove: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,014
Cost Of Living Index: 112 (68th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 1.9 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.01 (9th cheapest)
More on Glacier Ridge: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,390
Cost Of Living Index: 98 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (23rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (48th cheapest)
More on Sherman Village: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,046
Cost Of Living Index: 103 (36th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.6 (12th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (33rd cheapest)
More on Rolling Meadows: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 506
Cost Of Living Index: 108 (50th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.6 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.012 (19th cheapest)
More on East Buckeye: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 3,357
Cost Of Living Index: 98 (8th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (22nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (5cheapest)
More on Elvehjem: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,155
Cost Of Living Index: 101 (25th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.9 (2cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.014 (37th cheapest)
More on Moorland-Rimrock: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Madison Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Madison, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 96 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Madison.” We’re lookin’ at you, Heritage Heights.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Madison. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Madison
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Madison where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Madison are Heritage Heights, Bluff Acres, Wexford, Country Grove, Glacier Ridge, Sherman Village, Rolling Meadows, East Buckeye, Elvehjem, and Moorland-Rimrock.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Madison aren’t all cheap. University Apartments takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Madison.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Madison are University Apartments, Vilas, Greenbush, Brittingham Apartments, and Bayview.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
For more Wisconsin reading, check out:
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