Madison’s neighborhoods conjure up too many stereotypes to count. You’ve got hipster areas, preppy places, neighborhoods where college kids thrive, and of course, ghettos.
It seems as if there’s a neighborhood for everyone in Madison.
And while the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in Wisconsin thanks in part to tons of entertainment and jobs, it’s not all rainbows and sunshine in Madison. Some neighborhoods aren’t as safe as others.
So the question arises, which Madison neighborhoods are the most dangerous and which are the safest?
Today, we’ll use Saturday Night Science to determine which Madison hoods need a little tender loving care. We examined 84 of Madison’s neighborhoods to find out the most dangerous places to live.
$40,985 median income
$37,176 median income
$26,429 median income
$44,282 median income
$33,200 median income
$50,500 median income
$40,732 median income
$30,342 median income
$42,750 median income
$41,699 median income
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Wisconsin’s statewide median.
Wisconsin statewide median: $330,171
Wisconsin statewide median: $77,485
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Madison neighborhoods in 2026
To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Madison:
- High crime (Estimated)
- High unemployment (Less jobs)
- Low median income (Less pay)
- Low population density (No things to do)
- Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Madison, Wisconsin for each of these criteria from worst to best.
Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”
The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Madison.
The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all 84 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.
The full plate
Most dangerous neighborhoods to live in Madison for 2026
Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Population | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vera Court | 145 | $174,200 | $40,985 |
| 2 | Clarendon Hills | 177 | $167,600 | $37,176 |
| 3 | Bayview | 118 | $209,300 | $26,429 |
| 4 | Mayfair Park | 842 | $199,750 | $44,282 |
| 5 | Sherman Terrace | 230 | $96,300 | $33,200 |
| 6 | Park Ridge | 364 | $201,500 | $50,500 |
| 7 | Norman Acres | 270 | $164,800 | $40,732 |
| 8 | Dunn’s Marsh | 1,260 | $166,300 | $30,342 |
| 9 | Eken Park | 2,111 | $174,950 | $42,750 |
| 10 | Berkley Oaks | 1,063 | $110,500 | $41,699 |
| 11 | Nobel Park | 653 | $174,200 | $40,985 |
| 12 | Leopold | 1,472 | $109,400 | $33,371 |
| 13 | Marbella | 145 | $208,100 | $64,310 |
| 14 | Hawthorne | 1,244 | $171,700 | $52,579 |
| 15 | Broadway-Lakepoint | 797 | $186,900 | $56,681 |
| 16 | Eastmorland | 2,469 | $158,800 | $62,229 |
| 17 | Worthington Park | 651 | $167,700 | $44,375 |
| 18 | Bram’s Addition | 1,539 | $180,100 | $33,788 |
| 19 | Sheridan Triangle | 377 | $190,600 | $46,466 |
| 20 | High Point Estates | 1,056 | $268,233 | $80,900 |
| 21 | Sherman | 2,875 | $175,967 | $54,565 |
| 22 | Brittingham Apartments | 45 | $292,100 | $23,235 |
| 23 | Burr Oaks | 3,696 | $165,500 | $45,865 |
| 24 | East Bluff | 121 | $207,500 | $69,516 |
| 25 | Rolling Meadows | 2,046 | $197,850 | $74,734 |
| 25 | Bluff Acres | 3,043 | $164,800 | $52,563 |
| 27 | Allied Community | 4,480 | $167,900 | $37,268 |
| 28 | Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahar | 2,206 | $202,750 | $67,254 |
| 28 | Indian Springs | 381 | $171,500 | $55,556 |
| 30 | Brentwood Village | 1,034 | $190,600 | $46,466 |
| 31 | Junction Ridge | 1,793 | $241,850 | $90,054 |
| 32 | East Buckeye | 506 | $254,600 | $97,778 |
| 33 | Tamarack Trails Community | 361 | $308,500 | $94,248 |
| 34 | Waunona | 1,596 | $208,150 | $55,919 |
| 35 | Emerson East | 1,537 | $183,700 | $68,885 |
| 36 | Lake Edge | 2,196 | $209,933 | $74,321 |
| 37 | Greentree | 1,765 | $235,850 | $72,622 |
| 37 | Glendale | 2,287 | $209,067 | $67,380 |
| 39 | Lake View Hill | 2,091 | $190,850 | $55,250 |
| 40 | Whitetail Ridge | 480 | $210,300 | $52,750 |
| 41 | Heritage Heights | 2,180 | $198,267 | $76,411 |
| 41 | Prairie Hills | 3,081 | $226,050 | $62,680 |
| 43 | Ridgewood | 2,651 | $233,200 | $53,236 |
| 44 | Skyview Meadows | 725 | $230,500 | $81,042 |
| 45 | Westhaven Trails | 1,524 | $236,650 | $87,812 |
| 46 | Bay Creek | 2,490 | $300,250 | $66,551 |
| 47 | Elvehjem | 3,357 | $224,850 | $78,383 |
| 47 | Marquette | 5,461 | $298,833 | $71,139 |
| 49 | Oakbridge Community | 1,326 | $234,500 | $75,496 |
| 50 | Capitol | 31,387 | $428,850 | $39,062 |
| 51 | Meadowood | 2,734 | $238,200 | $68,768 |
| 52 | Orchard Ridge Community | 3,327 | $255,225 | $56,321 |
| 53 | Greenbush | 2,818 | $334,900 | $59,184 |
| 54 | Sunset Hills | 203 | $298,900 | $106,806 |
| 55 | Heistand | 3,209 | $235,100 | $58,059 |
| 56 | University Apartments | 840 | $412,500 | $40,139 |
| 57 | Sauk Creek | 1,497 | $271,500 | $89,212 |
| 58 | Faircrest | 1,245 | $268,250 | $80,758 |
| 59 | Reston Heights | 1,452 | $252,950 | $105,851 |
| 60 | Sherman Village | 2,390 | $207,500 | $72,214 |
| 60 | Spring Harbor | 1,797 | $282,100 | $81,466 |
| 62 | Hill Farms-University Neighborh | 3,267 | $274,000 | $73,024 |
| 63 | Woodland Hills | 432 | $358,200 | $101,008 |
| 64 | Schenk-Atwood | 4,789 | $272,680 | $81,000 |
| 65 | Old Middleton Greenway | 665 | $350,350 | $83,362 |
| 66 | Summit Woods | 537 | $288,000 | $105,845 |
| 67 | Walnut Grove | 937 | $308,500 | $94,248 |
| 68 | Nakoma League | 1,572 | $288,000 | $143,179 |
| 69 | Sunset Village | 1,770 | $317,767 | $84,373 |
| 70 | Parkwood Hills | 1,647 | $209,700 | $110,640 |
| 71 | Tenney-Lapham | 4,879 | $371,140 | $67,453 |
| 72 | Stone Meadows | 2,838 | $262,900 | $104,056 |
| 73 | Glacier Ridge | 1,014 | $278,900 | $143,886 |
| 74 | Vilas | 2,690 | $393,950 | $66,756 |
| 75 | Maple-Prairie | 1,778 | $273,700 | $77,938 |
| 76 | Stonefield Woods-Ridge | 232 | $358,200 | $146,254 |
| 77 | Highlands Community | 674 | $358,200 | $101,008 |
| 78 | Wexford | 2,590 | $247,950 | $81,566 |
| 79 | McClellan Park | 3,778 | $297,850 | $89,852 |
| 79 | Midvale Heights Community | 3,223 | $306,200 | $106,276 |
| 81 | Hawk’s Landing | 1,738 | $421,750 | $128,683 |
| 82 | Dudgeon-Monroe | 2,898 | $423,567 | $110,367 |
| 83 | Blackhawk | 1,265 | $573,400 | $124,493 |
| 84 | Regent | 6,221 | $474,740 | $81,822 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. All 84 Madison neighborhoods.
Summary
Summary: The worst neighborhoods around Madison
Well, there you have it — the worst of the neighborhoods in Madison with Vera Court landing at the bottom of the pack.
The worst neighborhoods in Madison are Vera Court, Clarendon Hills, Bayview, Mayfair Park, Sherman Terrace, Park Ridge, Norman Acres, Dunn’s Marsh, Eken Park, and Berkley Oaks.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Madison aren’t all bad. Regent takes the cake as the best place to live in Madison.
We ranked the neighborhoods from worst to best 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
Worst Neighborhoods In Madison FAQs
What is the most dangerous neighborhood in Madison?
Vera Court ranks as the worst neighborhood in Madison for 2026, according to Saturday Night Science. Clarendon Hills and Bayview are next on the list.
What are the worst neighborhoods in Madison?
The worst-ranked neighborhoods in Madison are Vera Court, Clarendon Hills, Bayview, Mayfair Park, Sherman Terrace, Park Ridge, Norman Acres, Dunn’s Marsh, Eken Park, and Berkley Oaks. We scored all 84 neighborhoods in the city.
Why does Vera Court rank as the worst?
Vera Court posts the roughest combined numbers in Madison: a median household income of $40,985 and a median home value of $174,200, with crime, unemployment, and density folded into the score.
Are these neighborhoods dangerous everywhere?
No. The scores are neighborhood-wide averages, and conditions change block by block and hour by hour. Plenty of people live in these neighborhoods without incident; the numbers just say the odds run tougher.
How do you rank the worst neighborhoods?
Each neighborhood is scored on crime, unemployment, income, density, and home values, using Census tract and FBI data. The worst combined score tops the list.
