Photo by Richard Hurd
Metro Metrics December 2025
Metro Metrics is a monthly data snapshot that explores key economic indicators reflecting the health of the Madison metro economy.
Q3 Economic Update
This month’s edition of Metro Metrics examines key indicators of Greater Madison’s economy and how they fared during Q3 of 2025.
Industries
The Metro’s job numbers began rebounding after decreasing slightly earlier this year (Table 1). Total nonfarm jobs in September exceeded last year’s total jobs for the first time since April. The industries that have grown the most are leisure and hospitality (up 5.1%) and education and health services (up 2.3%). Employment in trade, transportation and utilities decreased by 2.2% since last year.
Labor Force
Greater Madison continues to have a lower unemployment rate than the state of Wisconsin and the nation (Table 2). The Metro’s unemployment rate of 2.3% is fifth lowest out of 387, after only Sioux Falls, SD (1.8%), Rapid City, SD (1.9%), Bismarck, ND (2.0%) and Honolulu, HI (2.2%). The region’s labor force, employed people and unemployed people all decreased since last year. Total labor force decreased by 2.7%, employed people decreased by 2.8% and unemployed people decreased by 6.2%. These figures reinforce findings in the 2025 Next Normal (N²) survey, showing talent attraction and retention as the top barrier to business growth. It also reinforces the importance of talent development and effectively aligning education, training and industry needs to expand the available workforce.
Housing Building Permits
Due to the government shutdown earlier this year, Census Building Permits data for September has not been released, so this section will only cover building permits up to August (Table 3). The Metro has permitted more housing units this year YTD than last year, with nearly 4,200 housing units approved – an increase of about 5.6%.
MSN Airport Update
This year’s Dane County Regional Airport passenger counts YTD surpassed pre-pandemic records and are on track to be the airport’s best year yet (Table 4). For more information on how the airport is doing and what its future plans are, the Chamber recently hosted an edition of our Lunch(UP)date program with the airport’s new Executive Director, Mark Papko.
In addition to traffic counts, the airport also recently announced new nonstop service to Boston – one of the most requested business destinations.
