The story of this market
The typical home in Dane County, Wisconsin sells for about $497,596, or $242 per square foot.
Prices are up +6.6% from a year ago, so sellers still have some momentum. Homes take about 48 days to sell. Over the long run, values in this county have grown 165% since 2000. Last year 88 of 111 neighborhoods saw prices rise, so the story isn't the same street to street. The biggest natural hazard here is cold wave, which FEMA rates relatively high. HUD's fair market rent for a two-bedroom is $1,565 a month.
HUD sets the fair market rent for a 2-bedroom at $1,565 a month. FEMA's National Risk Index rates overall hazard risk here as Relatively Low.
Price climate
Every year of price change, 2000–2025
+4.2%
2025
Each stripe is one year's median price change across the area's census tracts (FHFA repeat-sales index). Deep blue is a strong gain year, red a falling year. Best: 2022 (+14.7%). Worst: 2009 (-2.5%). Hover to read a year.
Monthly price momentum
Home values since 2015
+5.2%
WI · past 12 months
Freddie Mac House Price Index, single-family homes, monthly through 2026-08. Each line starts at 100 in January 2015, so a reading of 180 means prices are up 80% since then.
Rent benchmark
Fair market rent by size
$2,047
3-bed / month
HUD Fair Market Rents, fiscal 2027, for this county. A typical rent for a modest unit, used to set housing-voucher payments.
Neighborhood price trend
Long-run price trend, 2000–2025
+4.2%
2025 change
FHFA repeat-sales index, median of 111 census tracts in this county (2000 = 100). Bars are each year's median change.
Natural hazard exposure
The area's risk shape
40
Relatively Low
FEMA National Risk Index. Each spoke is a hazard ranked nationally, where 100 is the most exposed. Expected annual loss: $182,036,843.
Dane County, Wisconsin
Dane County continues to see strong seller advantage driven by low supply (2.06 months of inventory) and steady home price appreciation of 6.6% year-over-year. Robust economic anchors in biotech, healthcare software, and university research continue to underpin consistent buyer demand and above-asking sales transactions.
No ARED distress-ledger coverage for this county yet — the foreclosure ingest rotates the national county directory, and filings appear here once the county's posted notices are read. Key-figure check: no independent anchor retained yet — first-researched cycles establish the anchor baseline this pass.
Select a city to expand its ZIP intel reports beneath · 23 cities · 36 ZIP reports
Median prices moved up 0.9% year over year.
Homes spend a median of 67 days on market with 0.8 months of supply — a fast-moving market.
3% of listings have cut prices · homes sell at 29.91% of asking — demand is holding steady.
no recorded foreclosure-ledger notices (0.0 per 10,000 residents) · unemployment 2.4% · poverty 10.5% — a stable, low-distress profile.
ACS 2024 5-year estimates. Aggregate published statistics for this county — never individual records, and never an attribute of any individual property or resident.
Owned and leased federal assets with active or excess status, per the General Services Administration's Real Estate Across the United States inventory (read 2026-09-25). A federal footprint read on this county — not a market valuation, and never an attribute of any individual property or tenant.
Deterministic aggregate of 36 researched ZIP reports — sales_count-weighted (population fallback); per point, children lacking the value or its weight are excluded. Tax rates, sentiment and context notes are tier-native and never roll.
Dane County, Wisconsin — researched county-level history with a deterministic 1 / 3 / 5-year projection
Solid: researched ten-year history · dotted: 1 / 3 / 5-year projection extended from the historical 7.4%/yr trend — a deterministic estimate, not a published forecast or guarantee.
Each property observation weighs one in its ZIP's deterministic roll-up — property-level records (taxes, scores, permits) never roll individually. Latest property research run Oct 15, 2026.
researched Sep 23
researched Sep 23
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researched Sep 21
researched Sep 23
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researched Sep 23
researched Sep 23
| 53508 | Belleville | $441,990 | $257 | — | 30 | — | — | — | 130 | $918 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53515 | Black Earth | $465,000 | $179 | +10.1% | 98 | — | — | — | 1,297 | $1,058 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53517 | Blue Mounds | $307,863 | $168 | +2.5% | 41 | 99.2% | 12% | 3.2 | 12 | $1,079 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53521 | Brooklyn | $574,000 | $235 | +2.1% | 62 | 98.5% | 15% | 3.8 | 13 | $1,201 | researched Sep 21 |
| 53523 | Cambridge | $497,906 | $246 | +0.1% | 41 | 100% | 14% | 1.3 | 1,198 | $1,211 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53527 | Cottage Grove | $550,000 | $233 | +15.6% | 71 | 98.5% | 14% | 2.2 | 121 | $1,505 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53528 | Cross Plains | $567,500 | $258 | +19.5% | 41 | 100.6% | 14% | 3.2 | 97 | $1,423 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53529 | Dane | $425,000 | $246 | +5.5% | 63 | 98.5% | 6.5% | 7.4 | 230 | $1,650 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53531 | Deerfield | $489,000 | $246 | +6.6% | 48 | — | — | — | 34 | $1,221 | researched Sep 23 |
| 53532 | DeForest | $550,000 | $233 | +15.6% | 71 | 100% | 6.5% | 2.2 | 121 | $1,414 | researched Sep 23 |
Figures are each ZIP report's own latest research — the county roll-up aggregates them sales_count-weighted (population fallback); ZIPs cycle quarterly.
Dane County demonstrates violent crime rates below both Wisconsin and nationwide benchmarks, though urban property crime remains concentrated within central Madison sectors. Countywide trends have remained largely stable with low per-capita incidence across suburban and rural townships.
Public education in the county is widely considered among the strongest in the Upper Midwest, anchored by high-performing suburban districts such as Middleton-Cross Plains, Waunakee, Verona, and Sun Prairie. Academic outcomes and state report card metrics across Dane County consistently surpass statewide averages.
Environmental risk in Dane County is dominated by localized inland riverine and lake-level flooding across the Yahara River chain of lakes and low-lying agricultural basins. Severe convective summer storms and cold winter conditions represent typical weather risks, but wildfire hazard is negligible.
Economic expansion is anchored by healthcare software titan Epic Systems in Verona, the University of Wisconsin-Madison research enterprise, and state government operations. Sustained population and employment gains continue to stimulate peripheral suburban single-family developments and dense urban transit corridors.
Property taxes are levied ad valorem at the municipal, county, school district, and technical college levels without county-wide sales tax surcharges on real estate. Wisconsin provides the state School Levy Tax Credit and Lottery Credit to owner-occupied primary residences, while commercial real estate faces standard local millage structures.
Dane County features an extensive recreational lake network including Lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa connected by the Yahara River waterway. Residents enjoy extensive bike path infrastructure like the Capital City State Trail, alongside regional assets like the UW Arboretum, county parks, and Olbrich Botanical Gardens.
The rental market remains fundamentally tight due to annual student turnover from UW-Madison and consistent influxes of technical and professional talent into Madison, Middleton, and Verona. Vacancy rates generally hold below regional averages, driving stable rent increases and steady multi-family development.
Dane County anchors Wisconsin's premier knowledge-economy engine, driven by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Epic Systems, American Family Insurance, and a thriving biotechnology and life sciences cluster. Unemployment consistently tracks well below state and national figures.
Major surface routes include Interstate 39/90/94, US Route 12/18 (the Beltline Highway), and US Highway 151, providing regional intercity and cross-county connectivity. Transit is anchored by Metro Transit serving Madison and adjacent suburbs, supported by an extensive regional bicycle trail network.
Urban infill and transit-oriented corridor redevelopment dominate the central isthmus and university vicinities, while master-planned residential communities and commercial business parks continue outward in Sun Prairie, Fitchburg, Verona, and Waunakee.
Assessments are administered by municipal assessors across the county's individual cities, villages, and towns rather than a single unified central appraisal district, adhering to Wisconsin Department of Revenue statutory equalization standards.
Parcels are subject to taxing authorities comprising Dane County, local municipalities, underlying school districts, and Madison Area Technical College (Madison College) district, alongside local sewer and lake protection districts.
Property insurance conditions remain relatively moderate compared to coastal regions, though convective storm and hail events alongside localized floodplain designations influence property insurance premiums.
- Little Amerricka Amusement Park4.626.8 mi
- Prairie Athletic Club4.520.4 mi
- Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park4.23.2 mi
- Spare Time Madison4.43.4 mi
- Dave & Buster's Madison3.93.4 mi
- Camp Randall Stadium4.77.8 mi
- Alliant Energy Center4.48.8 mi
- Cave of the Mounds4.713.4 mi
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens4.812 mi
- Kohl Center4.78.5 mi
- Henry Vilas Zoo4.77.6 mi
- Wisconsin State Capitol4.89.2 mi
- Cave of the Mounds4.713.4 mi
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens4.812 mi
- AMC Fitchburg 1844.2 mi
- Wisconsin State Capitol4.89.2 mi
- Overture Center for the Arts4.89 mi
- Garver Feed Mill4.612.1 mi
- Madison Children's Museum4.79.3 mi
- Wollersheim Winery & Distillery4.820.2 mi
- Cave of the Mounds4.713.4 mi
- Olbrich Botanical Gardens4.812 mi
- Blue Mound State Park4.715 mi
- James Madison Park4.69.5 mi
- Warner Park4.611.8 mi
- Wingra Boats4.96.7 mi
- SkipperBud's411.7 mi
- Capitol Boat Club4.811.5 mi
- Vitense Golfland4.44.2 mi
- PinSocial Deforest417.2 mi
- University Ridge Golf Course4.70.4 mi
- Pleasant View Golf Course4.64.8 mi
- Door Creek Golf Course4.416.7 mi
- West Towne Mall43.5 mi
- East Towne Mall3.814.4 mi
- Hilldale Shopping Center4.46.2 mi
- Global Market and Food Hall4.614.7 mi
- T.J. Maxx4.34.4 mi
- Dane County Regional Airport4.513.6 mi
Theme parks, venues, golf, airports, museums, water and shopping across the area from Google Maps, ranked by popularity within the radius shown.
The amenity base that shapes daily life and property demand in this county — what residents actually live with, and what the pipeline is adding.
Defining the Madison isthmus, these major Yahara chain lakes provide county residents with expansive boating, sailing, fishing, and shoreline parkland access.
A 1,200-acre ecological research site and nature preserve featuring miles of trails through restored prairies, savannas, and woodlands in the urban core.
A premier paved commuter and recreational trail linking central Madison with Fitchburg and surrounding county conservation lands.
A 16-acre public garden located on Lake Monona featuring outdoor botanical displays and the tropical Bolz Conservatory.
Data retrieved from U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts and ACS County Profiles for Dane County, WI.