Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
As of the 2010 census, Madison had a population of 233,209, making it the second largest city in Wisconsin, after Milwaukee, and the 81st largest in the United States. The city forms the core of the United States Census Bureau’s Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Dane County and neighboring Iowa and Columbia counties. Madison’s suburbs include DeForest, Fitchburg, Maple Bluff, McFarland, Middleton, Monona, Oregon, Shorewood Hills, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, Verona, and Waunakee.
The city is sometimes described as The City of Four Lakes, comprising the four successive lakes of the Yahara River.
Many businesses are attracted to Madison’s skill base, taking advantage of the area’s high level of education. According to city-data.com, 48.2% of Madison’s population over the age of 25 holds at least a bachelor’s degree. Forbes magazine reported in 2004 that Madison has the highest percentage of individuals holding Ph.D.s in the United States. In 2005, Forbes listed the city as having the lowest unemployment in the nation: 2.5%, less than half the U.S. 2004 average. In 2006, the same magazine listed Madison as number 31 in the top 200 metro areas for “Best Places for Business and Careers.” Forbes has also named Madison in the top ten Best Cities several times within the past decade. In 2009, in the midst of the late-2000s recession, Madison had an unemployment rate of 3.5% and was ranked number one in a list of “ten cities for job growth”.
According to Forbes magazine, Madison ranks second in the nation in education. The University of Wisconsin contributes the vast majority of these, with roughly 41,000 students enrolled, of whom 30,750 are undergraduates. This makes it one of the largest public universities in the United States. It is consistently rated among the top public post-secondary schools in the country.
In 1996 Money magazine identified Madison as the best place to live in the United States. It has consistently ranked near the top of the best-places list in subsequent years, with the city’s low unemployment rate a major contributor.
In 1996, Madison was rated #3 in “Safest of Nation’s 100 Largest Cities” by Morgan Quinto Press and #9 in “America’s Safest Cities” by Money. In 2008, Men’s Health magazine ranked Madison as the “Least Armed and Dangerous” city in an article about “Where Men Are Targets” throughout the US.
source: wikipedia.org