This study ranked the best U.S. capitals to live in. See where Madison ranks.
State capitals are centers of important government and political decisions, and they're often hubs of business and education.
They can also be good places to live and raise a family.
Earlier this month, experts from the personal finance tools company WalletHub ranked the 50 U.S. capitals based on nearly 50 factors that make a city a good place to call home. Wisconsin's state capital, Madison, ranked an impressive second.
WalletHub based its rankings on factors in four major categories. The "Affordability" category included cost of living, median household income and housing costs. The "Economic Well-Being" category included population and income growth, unemployment and underemployment rates, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, and more.
The "Quality of Education & Health" category featured high school graduation rates, K-12 school system and university rankings, hospital beds per capita, infant mortality rates and more. Finally, the "Quality of Life" category included restaurants, nightlife options, fitness centers, coffee shops and other attractions per capita, access to public transportation, walkability, crime rates and more.
Here's what makes Madison a great place to live, according to WalletHub, and how Wisconsin's capital city compares to those of other states.
Why is Madison, Wis., a good place to live?
The home of the Badgers, summer lake life and the Memorial Union ranked as the second-best U.S. state capital to live in. Madison also ranked second in the "Quality of Education & Health" category and third for "Quality of Life."
"If you’re a foodie, Madison is a good spot, given the fact that it ranks at the top of the country for the availability of 4.5-star or higher restaurants," WalletHub financial advisor Adam McCann writes. "Nevertheless, Madison is a very healthy city, with one of the lowest rates of physically inactive adults and one of the highest rates of adults reporting that they are in good health."
In fact, Madison was recently named the sixth-most physically fit city in the U.S. by the American College of Sports Medicine's American Fitness Index. The Fitness Index found that 64% of Madisonians reported being in "excellent or very good health," the most of any city in the report. Madison also boasts the most playgrounds per 10,000 residents of any of the U.S.'s 100 largest cities, and 95% of Madisonians live within a 10-minute walk of a park.
McCann also points out that Madison has a low infant mortality rate, and residents have a longer-than-average lifespan. According to data on life expectancy from County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, Madison has an average life expectancy of 81.41 years – 2.32 more than the national average, USA TODAY reported.
Furthermore, Madison has the second-highest percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher of any state capital. The city also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country at 2.8%, WalletHub reports.
"It also has the lowest foreclosure rate, which indicates that its residents are very stable financially," McCann writes. "Madison residents have one of the highest average credit scores in the nation, too, at 749, which is just about excellent."
Madison ranked 14th among state capitals in both WalletHub's "Affordability" and "Economic Well-Being" categories.
A recent U.S. News & World Report study ranked Madison third on a list of "Best Places to Live for Quality of Life in the U.S. in 2023-2024." However, U.S. News pointed out that the city's cost of living is higher than both the state and national averages. Madison's median home price is $398,096, while the national average price is $383,883.
Source: WalletHub
What is the best state capital to live in?
WalletHub named Austin, Texas, the best U.S. state capital to live in for 2024. The city ranked first in the "Economic Well-Being" and "Quality of Education & Health" categories and was praised for its highly-rated public school system, high school graduation rates, and for having the highest average life expectancy and most attractions of any state capital.
"Austin, Texas, is the best state capital overall, in part because it has the highest median household income after adjusting for the cost of living, at $78,183," McCann writes. "It also provides a good environment for business, with new businesses opening at the third-highest rate in the country."
Boasting a low unemployment rate of 3% and a high median household income of $75,958, North Carolina's Raleigh was ranked third among state capitals by WalletHub. More than half of the city's residents have bachelor's degrees or higher, it boasts plenty of 4.5-plus star restaurants, and it's even America's third-best city for hockey fans.
Other impressive rankings came from Pierre, S.D., which ranked 13th overall but first for "Affordability" and Boston, which ranked 20th overall but first in the "Quality of Life" category.
Here are the top 10 best U.S. state capitals to live in, according to WalletHub:
Austin, Texas
Madison, Wis.
Raleigh, N.C.
Boise, Idaho
Atlanta
Lincoln, Neb.
Salt Lake City
Columbus, Ohio
Denver
Concord, N.H.
What is the worst state capital to live in?
New Jersey's capital of Trenton ranked 50th among U.S. state capitals to live in. The city ranked second-to-last in WalletHub's "Economic Well-Being" and "Quality of Education & Health" categories. It ranked 44th for "Affordability" and 38th for "Quality of Life." Trenton has the highest unemployment rate and lowest rate of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher of any capital city.
Here are the top five worst U.S. state capitals to live in, according to WalletHub:
Trenton, N.J.
Augusta, Maine
Jackson, Miss.
Baton Rouge, La.
Hartford, Conn.
Click here to view WalletHub's complete rankings of the best U.S. capital cities to live in and learn more about their methodology.
More: These two Wisconsin cities rank among the top 10 best for quality of life in the U.S.
More: Residents of this Wisconsin city were among the top 10 fittest in America in 2023
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Study names Madison the second-best US capital city to live in
