Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Few places in the country grade higher. Madison earns an A, ranked 9th of 151 in Connecticut. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 98% of the country, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, and its schools outperform 89% of the state's. The exception is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $721K for a typical one and 8.2 times the New Haven metro’s $88K median household income. 72% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Madison, above both the Connecticut town median (45%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Its National Register listings include Allis-Bushnell House and Jonathan Murray House. Only one of the 90 Connecticut towns we compare has a lower property crime rate than Madison.
Where Madison beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,837 in 1850, 17,691 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1699 and 5 maps from 1893 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Connecticut), ordered by how far Madison is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for health (better than 98% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 5%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Madison. Close and well known come first.
18 mi Stadium & arenaYale Bowl
11 mi State parkGillette Castle State Park
26 mi Theme parkLake Compounce
29 mi Stadium & arenaPeoplesBank Arena
30 mi Stadium & arenaMohegan Sun Arena
29 mi Stadium & arenaPratt & Whitney StadiumYale Bowl: Kenneth Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gillette Castle State Park: Original uploader was Kevinpepin at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Lake Compounce: Wildcat1 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · PeoplesBank Arena: PeoplesBank Arena, CC BY 2.5 · Mohegan Sun Arena: Bbjeter, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Pratt & Whitney Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Madison, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Madison.
Madison has less food insecurity than most of Connecticut and keeps more of its land conserved than most of Connecticut, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of Connecticut.
Its 8,558 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 97% of Connecticut towns.
Rockland Preserve, at 665 acres with 31.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. There are 108 miles of trail across 56 parks and preserves. Madison’s density of trails is 3.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rockland Preserve | 31.3 mi | 665 |
| 2. Cockaponset State Forest | 8.9 mi | 547 |
| 3. Hammonasset Beach State Park | 5.3 mi | 569 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
That grade is the best School Grade on its borders; Guilford (A−) is next. It comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $721K.
The largest public high school is Daniel Hand High School, with 751 students. Three of its 8 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Its public schools are run by the Madison School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walter C. Polson Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 541 | A |
| Daniel Hand High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 751 | A+ |
| J. Milton Jeffrey Elementary SchoolTop results in townGrades K–3 | Grades K–3 | 407 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CT on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Connecticut is food insecurity: 4.8% of its 14,188 adults worry about having enough food, against 14.9% statewide.
The share of adults in Madison who have diabetes: 8.4%. Of the 154 Connecticut towns we compare, none has a lower share of adults 18 to 64 who have no health insurance than Madison. 6.2% of adults in Madison smoke cigarettes; 9.7% say their health is fair or poor. This Connecticut town beats the Connecticut average on 23 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3.
| Madison | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 15% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.2% | 9.7% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 14% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 12% | 14% |
| What stands out | Madison | CT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 4.8% | 14.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.7% | 10% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.8% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 84 to 29 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 2 reported in 2025, 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
Madison’s rate of reported violence stands at 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 8.2 years of the New Haven metro’s $88K median household income, the typical home (about $721K) costs more against local pay than in 93% of Connecticut towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Home values are up 4% over the year to September 2026. Madison’s going rate for rent comes in at $2,025 a month. Also worth knowing: 90% of Madison households live in a home they own.
| Madison | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,025 a month | $1,448 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 90% | 81% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
30.2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Connecticut.
In Madison, the typical journey to work is 30 minutes. Most people who work leave Madison to do it: just 14% work in town. Among 155 Connecticut towns, just 10 have a higher share of workers working from home than Madison. Since 2013, Madison has added 342 jobs, to 4,651 in 2023.
| Madison | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 30% | 15% | 11% |
| Median household income | $167,000 | $109,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 3.6% | 5.8% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
July afternoons reach 83° and January nights drop to 20°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
448 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 92 properties have flooded more than once.
On expected storm and flood damage, Madison sits above 60% of U.S. communities. Flood insurance has paid out on 448 claims here since 1978. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 58% come from inland flooding and 27% from hurricanes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Madison
About 6 of every 100 Madison residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Connecticut.
36.7% of the town is conserved land, across 56 parks and preserves.
7 places in Madison on the National Register of Historic Places.
15 notable people were born in Madison.
Town in Connecticut, United States
Madison is a town in the southeastern corner of New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, occupying a central location on Connecticut's Long Island Sound shoreline. The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 17,691 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Madison.
At #9 in CT, it grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Guilford (A−) comes closest. Durham next door grades lower for schools (B− to Madison’s A) and higher for cost of living (B− to D).
| Town | CT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | #9 | A | D | A+ | A | A+ |
| Killingworth | #52 | A− | C− | — | A− | A+ |
| Guilford | #40 | A− | D | B+ | A− | A |
| Madison Center | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clinton | #83 | B | C | C+ | B | A |
| Durham | #48 | A− | B− | — | B− | A |
Killingworth and Durham report no FBI crime data of their own. Madison Center isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Madison with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Madison grades A overall, better than 95% of U.S. towns and #9 of 151 in Connecticut. It grades A+ for health, A+ for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes, by national standards. Madison reports less crime per resident than 96% of U.S. towns, an A+ Safety Grade: 2 violent and 27 property crimes in 2025.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
15 notable people were born here, including Brad Anderson and William Scranton.
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