Jobs in the Madison, WI area: pay, hiring and remote work
The Madison, WI metro area has 340 open job postings from 86 employers in our data. 19.5% list a pay range, the median posted pay is $103,500 a year, 7.6% are remote and 35.9% have been open more than 60 days (data as of October 2026).
What stands out
A $103,500 posted salary in the Madison area buys about what $106,500 buys in the average US metro area, because prices here run 3% below the national average.
After adjusting for local prices, the typical worker's official median wage ($58,000) is worth $59,500 in average-US dollars, 8th of 99 metro areas.
8.5% of postings are entry-level, 92nd of 99 metro areas.
The unemployment rate is 2.9%, 1.2 points below the median of the metro areas in this report.
7.6% of postings are remote, 17th highest of 99 metro areas.
Madison compared with similar-sized metro areas: the median wage divided by the local price level (US average prices = 100). Download this chart (SVG)
340open postings from 86 employers
19.5%list a pay range
$103,500median posted pay (middle half: $81,500 to $135,000)
7.6%remote
2.9%unemployment rate, 2026-08 (BLS)
$58,000official median wage for all jobs, May 2025 (BLS)
8.5%entry-level postings
The metro area's unemployment rate was 2.9% in 2026-08 (2.6% a year earlier) (BLS, not seasonally adjusted). Across Wisconsin, employers had 115,000 job openings in 2025-12, an openings rate of 3.7% (BLS JOLTS). Indeed's own measure of job postings in the metro area is 5.8% below its February 2020 level and 8.6% higher than a year ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026-10-02).
City by city inside the metro area
Place
Postings
Employers
Pay listed
Median posted pay
Madison, WI
258
69
22.1%
$104,500
Middleton, WI
24
6
n/a
–
Places with at least 15 postings from 3 employers. Shading shows where median posted pay is higher. Pay figures need 8 postings with pay.
48 federal job announcements open to the public list Madison, WI, with a median posted salary range midpoint of $103,000. Agencies hiring most: Federal Aviation Administration (15), Veterans Health Administration (10), Army National Guard Units (5), Air National Guard Units (4), Internal Revenue Service (2). Source: USAJOBS, 2026-10-10.
What your paycheck buys here
Prices in the Madison, WI area run 3% below the national average, and housing runs 0% below it. The official median wage for all jobs is $58,000, which is worth $59,500 in average-US dollars. The median posted pay of $103,500 is worth $106,500.
Local prices compared with the national average, where 100 is the US average. Download this chart (SVG)Median wages for the ten occupations with the most workers here (worker count in parentheses). Download this chart (SVG)Which industries have the most open postings in our data. Download this chart (SVG)
A posting that lists several places counts once in the metro. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's 2023 definitions. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in the area. Methodology · All metro areas (CSV)
