Photo by Richard Hurd
Metro Metrics June 2025
Metro Metrics is a monthly data snapshot that explores key economic indicators reflecting the health of the Madison Metro economy.
Understanding Madison’s University-Educated Workforce
This month’s Metro Metrics report delves into the key statistics driving the Madison region’s economy, with a specific focus on our university-educated workforce. We seek to answer how the Madison MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) workforce compares to peer metropolitan areas, analyze the origins of these skilled individuals and examine the long-term trends in educational attainment within our region.
Educational Attainment (Fig. 1)
Among adults aged 25 and older in the Madison metro, 4.1% have less than a high school diploma, 20.2% have a high school diploma or equivalent education, 16.6% have some college education but no degree, 9.7% have an associate’s degree, 29.9% have a bachelor’s degree and 19.4% have a graduate or professional degree.
When benchmarking against targeted metropolitan areas, Madison has a comparable proportion of degree-holders to Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Where Madison’s University-Educated Workers Come From (Fig. 2, Fig. 3)
Those moving to the Madison metro from other states in the U.S. and from abroad tend to have higher educational attainment than those that lived within Wisconsin. Census Bureau data reveals that among adults aged 25 and older who moved to the Madison metro from another state, 36.9% hold a bachelor’s degree and 31.9% possess a graduate or professional degree. This contrasts with individuals who did not move within the last year, where only 29.4% have a bachelor’s degree and 19.2% have a graduate or professional degree.
While new residents from other states and abroad tend to be more highly educated than the existing local population, they constitute a relatively small proportion of the metropolitan area’s total workforce. In 2023, adults aged 25 and older who moved to the Madison metro from other states and abroad accounted for approximately 4.2% (a little over 1 in 25) of all adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Workforce Education Over Time (Fig. 4)
Longitudinal Census data demonstrates a clear trend of increasing educational attainment within the Madison metro’s workforce. Since 2010, the proportion of metropolitan area residents aged 25 and older holding a bachelor’s degree has risen from 25.4% to 29.9%. Concurrently, the proportion with a graduate or professional degree has grown from 16.2% to 19.9%. This upward trend in higher education is mirrored by a decline in the proportion of residents without a college degree, falling from 58.4% in 2010 to 50.7% in 2023.
Fields of Study (Fig. 5)
The Madison metro’s university-educated workforce is distinctly characterized by a strong concentration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) degrees. Over half of all individuals aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher possess degrees in science, engineering and related fields. This proportion increases to nearly 60% when focusing specifically on graduates aged 25-39.
A notable generational difference emerges while younger degree holders predominantly pursue STEM fields; older individuals tend to have a higher prevalence of bachelor’s degrees in education. For instance, over 20% of bachelor’s degree holders aged 65 and older in the Madison metro majored in education, compared to less than one-third of that proportion among bachelor’s degree holders aged 25-39. Consequently, despite having more than twice as many college graduates aged 25-39 than those aged 65 and older, the Madison metro has approximately half as many young graduates with degrees in education.
All data sources: 2023 American Community Survey, 5-year estimates