Town · Rockingham County, North Carolina

Madison, North Carolina

Madison is a town in Rockingham County, North Carolina, part of the Greensboro-High Point, NC metro area. It has 2,242 residents. Madison, North Carolina has a quality-of-life score of 25 out of 100 (low), ranking #11,804 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within North Carolina it ranks #320 of 458 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent as share of income (low), child care cost burden (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on primary care shortage (high), injury deaths (high) and drought exposure (high).

25Low

Quality-of-life score: #11,804 of 15,651 cities and towns
North Carolina: #320 of 458 in NC
Population: 2,242 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 633.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 3740560

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety24#11,950/15,637
Economy25#11,732/15,631
Housing91#1,320/14,977
Health13#13,573/15,609
Healthcare10#14,051/15,650
Environment73#4,220/15,453
Education16#13,223/15,649
Infrastructure28#11,340/15,650
Community52#7,552/15,651
Leisure & amenities19#12,731/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Madison, North Carolina ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Rockingham County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent as share of income · low18.3%
97/100North Carolina 29.5%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Child care cost burden · low21.2%
91/100North Carolina 25.1%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockingham County value
Social associations · high14.6 /10k
90/100North Carolina 11.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockingham County value
Rent-burdened households · low27.3%
88/100North Carolina 48.9%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
New homes permitted · high8.5 /1k
85/100North Carolina 8.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Pharmacies · high2.3 /10k
85/100North Carolina 1.6 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRockingham County value

Weaknesses

Primary care shortage · high18.0
5/100North Carolina 9.9United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationRockingham County value
Injury deaths · high141 /100k
6/100North Carolina 97 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockingham County value
Drought exposure · high89%
7/100North Carolina 79%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAARockingham County value
Drug overdose deaths · high31.3 /100k
7/100North Carolina 20.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataRockingham County value
Premature death · high13,181 /100k
8/100North Carolina 9,400 /100kUnited States 8,123 /100k2021-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteRockingham County value
Average weekly wage · low$927
8/100North Carolina $1,376United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsRockingham County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateImproving
30.7% (2015-2019) → 0.0% (2020-2024)
−31 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Poverty rateImproving
18.7% (2015-2019) → 8.0% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
New homes permittedImproving
5.8 /1k (2021) → 8.5 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+46%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Rent as share of incomeImproving
26.5% (2015-2019) → 18.3% (2020-2024)
−8.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.6× (2015-2019) → 3.5× (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Unemployment rateWorsening
4.9% (2015-2019) → 10.3% (2020-2024)
+5.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Madison, North Carolina improved on 3 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Child poverty−31 points30.7% → 0.0%
Poverty−11 points18.7% → 8.0%
Rent / income−8.2 points26.5% → 18.3%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Madison, North Carolina between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.8 min2015-2019	20.2 min2020-2024	−2.7 min	Within the margin of error	77%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.0%2015-2019	15.1%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Broadband subscriptions	81.8%2015-2019	84.0%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Child poverty rate	30.7%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	−31 points	Improved	98%
Effective property tax rate	1.27%2015-2019	0.98%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	73%
High school diploma or higher	83.8%2015-2019	87.4%2020-2024	+3.5 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Home price to income ratio	2.6×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+1.0×	Within the margin of error	24%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4582015-2019	0.4252020-2024	−0.033	Within the margin of error	76%
Median household income	$44,5602015-2019	$52,5932020-2024	+18%	Within the margin of error	29%
Poverty rate	18.7%2015-2019	8.0%2020-2024	−11 points	Improved	94%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	26.5%2015-2019	18.3%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Improved	90%
Rent-burdened households	32.8%2015-2019	27.3%2020-2024	−5.4 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	14.5%2015-2019	11.3%2020-2024	−3.3 points	Within the margin of error	78%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Madison, North Carolina five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Madison, North Carolina in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Madison, North Carolina itself moved +1.6 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,242 residents (±334)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,060 households (±152)

Madison, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Under $25k21%†222
$25k–50k27%†282
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,060 households (±152)

Madison, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Own58%612
Rent42%448

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,061 workers (±183)

Madison, North Carolina
North Carolina share

Drive alone75%799
Carpool13%†134
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Greensboro-High Point, NC

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Rockingham County, the county holding most of Madison's residents.

Rockingham County has 1,632 employer establishments, 176 for every 10,000 residents (0.71× the US rate of 248; 0.74× North Carolina's), with 21,282 paid employees at an average annual pay of $41,000. The Census Bureau also counts 6,131 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,632; 6,131 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 176; US 248 · North Carolina 237
Paid employees: 21,282
Average annual pay: $41,000; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Rockingham County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	134	14.5	0.94×About typical	770	$53,939	635
Restaurants and other eating places	126	13.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	2,062	$18,322	23
Religious organizations	119	12.9	2.32×More than typical	530	$17,689	—
Ambulatory health care services	88	9.5	0.46×Fewer than typical	988	$46,347	250
Building equipment contractors	66	7.1	1.19×About typical	366	$49,333	124
Gasoline stations	64	6.9	2.13×More than typical	301	$25,917	7
Limited-service restaurants	60	6.5	0.81×About typical	1,141	$18,159	13
Construction of buildings	56	6.1	0.80×About typical	182	$50,335	194
Full-service restaurants	55	5.9	0.77×Fewer than typical	886	$18,621	8
Services to buildings and dwellings	54	5.8	0.87×About typical	362	$24,583	601
Lessors of real estate	52	5.6	0.46×Fewer than typical	109	$41,028	500
Automotive repair and maintenance	43	4.6	0.92×About typical	216	$34,463	161

Rank places for an industry Open Rockingham County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 92,535 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Madison, North Carolina: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

62.4KFY2017
60.9KFY2018
56KFY2019
22.8KFY2020
9.1KFY2021
1.9KFY2022
5.8KFY2023
5KFY2025

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Madison, North Carolina, so they do not add up across cities.

Madison, North Carolina's figures are part of those of Rockingham County, NC ($65.2M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Madison is mostly in Rockingham County.

See federal money in Rockingham County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Madison, North Carolina is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Virginia FoxxR-NC-5 · 100% of residentsWith party 100%Missed 0.4%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Rockingham County24100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Greensboro-High Point, NC52

Other cities and towns in Rockingham County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3740560

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends