Every city has safe neighborhoods and dangerous neighborhoods. We believe you should know which neighborhoods in Madison are the safest before you move.
Every year, more than 30 million Americans move. Sometimes, it’s for a job, other times it’s to escape the big city. But no matter where you move, you want a neighborhood that’s family friendly, clean, and most importantly, safe.
We’ve analyzed the FBI crime report’s data on violent and property crimes for every single neighborhood in Madison. Then, we calculated your chances of being the victim of a crime in each one.
What Madison neighborhoods can you leave your doors unlocked at night? Here’s the list.
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Wisconsin’s statewide median.
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the safest Madison hoods in 2026
You can ask people which neighborhoods are the safest, or you can look at the unbiased raw data. We choose data.
Instead of relying on speculation and opinion, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the numbers from the FBI’s most recent crime report for every neighborhood in Madison.
To be more specific, we analyzed the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. We then ran an analysis to calculate each neighborhood’s property and violent crimes per capita. We used the following criteria:
- Total Crimes Per Capita
- Violent Crimes Per Capita
- Property Crimes Per Capita
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 96 in each category, where 1 was the safest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a safe neighborhood index.
Finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest safest neighborhood index the “Safest City Neighborhood In Madison.” We’re lookin’ at you, Hill Farms-University Neighborh.
We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from safest to most dangerous.
The full plate
Detailed list of the safest neighborhoods to live in Madison for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Crime Per 100K |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hill Farms-University Neighborh | |
| 1 | Country Grove | |
| 3 | Parkwood Hills | |
| 4 | Sauk Creek | |
| 5 | Blackhawk | |
| 6 | Walnut Grove | |
| 7 | Skyview Meadows | |
| 8 | Hawk’s Landing | |
| 8 | Stone Meadows | |
| 10 | Glacier Ridge | |
| 11 | McClellan Park | |
| 12 | Schenk-Atwood | |
| 13 | Highlands Community | |
| 14 | Stonefield Woods-Ridge | |
| 15 | Wexford | |
| 16 | Orchard Ridge Community | |
| 17 | Nakoma League | |
| 18 | Whitetail Ridge | |
| 19 | Westmorland | |
| 19 | Vilas | |
| 21 | Old Middleton Greenway | |
| 22 | Lake View Hill | |
| 23 | Regent | |
| 24 | Sherman Village | |
| 25 | Midvale Heights Community | |
| 26 | Sheridan Triangle | |
| 27 | Sunset Hills | |
| 28 | Radio Park | |
| 28 | Sunset Village | |
| 30 | Indian Springs | |
| 31 | Wisconsin Co-Op Housing | |
| 32 | Oakbridge Community | |
| 32 | Dudgeon-Monroe | |
| 34 | Lerdahl Park | |
| 35 | Lake Edge | |
| 36 | Elvehjem | |
| 37 | Faircrest | |
| 38 | Brittingham Apartments | |
| 39 | Maple-Prairie | |
| 40 | Allied Community | |
| 41 | University Apartments | |
| 42 | Spring Harbor | |
| 43 | Reston Heights | |
| 44 | Westchester Gardens | |
| 45 | Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahar | |
| 45 | Marbella | |
| 47 | Broadway-Lakepoint | |
| 48 | Westhaven Trails | |
| 49 | Vanchamasshe | |
| 49 | Heritage Heights | |
| 51 | Nobel Park | |
| 52 | Eastmorland | |
| 53 | Sherman Terrace | |
| 54 | Woodland Hills | |
| 55 | Ridgewood | |
| 55 | Bayview | |
| 57 | Heistand | |
| 58 | Norman Acres | |
| 59 | Junction Ridge | |
| 60 | Dunn’s Marsh | |
| 61 | Brentwood Village | |
| 61 | Clarendon Hills | |
| 63 | Meadowood | |
| 64 | Bram’s Addition | |
| 65 | Summit Woods | |
| 66 | Berkley Oaks | |
| 67 | North Lake Mendota | |
| 68 | Worthington Park | |
| 69 | Greentree | |
| 70 | Marquette | |
| 71 | Leopold | |
| 72 | East Bluff | |
| 73 | Capitol | |
| 74 | Glendale | |
| 75 | Rolling Meadows | |
| 76 | Bay Creek | |
| 77 | Glen Oak Hills | |
| 78 | Moorland-Rimrock | |
| 79 | Bluff Acres | |
| 80 | Tenney-Lapham | |
| 81 | Hawthorne | |
| 82 | Waunona | |
| 83 | Prairie Hills | |
| 84 | East Buckeye | |
| 85 | Burr Oaks | |
| 85 | Sherman | |
| 87 | Tamarack Trails Community | |
| 88 | Greenbush | |
| 89 | High Crossing | |
| 89 | High Point Estates | |
| 91 | Carpenter-Ridgeway | |
| 92 | Emerson East | |
| 93 | Eken Park | |
| 94 | Park Ridge | |
| 95 | Vera Court | |
| 96 | Mayfair Park |
Source: FBI UCR. All 96 Madison neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The safest places in Madison
Looking at the data, you can tell that Hill Farms-University Neighborh is as safe as they come, according to science and data.
The safest neighborhoods in Madison are Hill Farms-University Neighborh, Country Grove, Parkwood Hills, Sauk Creek, Blackhawk, Walnut Grove, Skyview Meadows, Hawk’s Landing, Stone Meadows, and Glacier Ridge.
But as most Wisconsin residents would agree, almost every place here has its safe and not safe parts. So make sure you’re informed ahead of time.
We ranked the neighborhoods from safest to most dangerous in the chart below. Not sold on Wisconsin? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Safest Neighborhoods In Madison FAQs
What is the safest neighborhood in Madison?
Hill Farms-University Neighborh is the safest neighborhood in Madison for 2026, based on FBI crime data. Country Grove and Parkwood Hills are next.
What are the safest neighborhoods in Madison?
The safest neighborhoods in Madison are Hill Farms-University Neighborh, Country Grove, Parkwood Hills, Sauk Creek, Blackhawk, Walnut Grove, Skyview Meadows, Hawk’s Landing, Stone Meadows, and Glacier Ridge. We ranked all 96 neighborhoods in the city.
How do you measure neighborhood safety?
Neighborhoods are ranked on violent and property crimes per capita, using FBI crime data mapped to each neighborhood. The lowest combined crime rate wins.
Which neighborhood ranked last for safety?
Mayfair Park posts the highest crime rate of the 96 Madison neighborhoods we scored. Our separate worst neighborhoods in Madison ranking digs into that end of the list.
Does a low crime rate guarantee safety?
No. Crime rates are averages across a whole neighborhood, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. The numbers tell you where the odds are best, not that anywhere is risk-free.
