Category: Economy News
Photo by Richard Hurd
Metro Metrics July 2025
Metro Metrics is a monthly data snapshot that explores key economic indicators reflecting the health of the Madison Metro economy.
The Engine that Can
The Greater Madison region is one of the economic engines driving innovation in Wisconsin and the nation. With the most industry-diverse economy in the nation, no single sector dominates the employment landscape. But to understand factors fueling economic growth, we look to the region’s advanced industries.
Brookings Institution defines advanced industries as those with a large share of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) workers and high Research and Development (R&D) investment. These industries range from advanced manufacturing to medical devices to fast-growing tech services. Research has shown that for every advanced industry job created, an additional 2.2 jobs are created, 0.8 locally and 1.4 nationally, supporting nearly a quarter of all domestic employment.
Greater Madison’s leading advanced industries are software publishing (13,748 employed, with a location quotient of 8.27), scientific R&D (6,126 employed, 2.54 LQ), architectural, engineering and related services (5,732 employed, 1.28 LQ) and medical and diagnostic laboratories (3,714 employed, 4.56 LQ).
From the Bottom to the Top
We can dig further into the region’s high-tech sector by looking at the Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS). While narrower in scope, all of the sectors included in the BDS high-tech dataset are also advanced industries, offering a useful picture of employment and business trends.
In 1978, the Madison metro ranked 147th among all U.S. metros in the proportion of employees working in high-tech industries, trailing peer regions like Ann Arbor, Austin, Portland and Raleigh. In 2022, the latest year available, Madison now ranks 11th in the country — a significant swing.
Fig. 1 shows the concentration of high-tech jobs in the Greater Madison region and peer regions over time, as well as the median value among U.S. metros. The median proportion has remained steady at 2-3% of total employment among metropolitan areas since 1980. Some of our peer regions, such as Portland and Raleigh, also reflect this lack of growth in employment concentration, with Portland consistently seeing roughly 6-8% of its workforce employed in high-tech industries and Raleigh remaining in the 7-10% range. Greater Madison, by contrast, accelerated from less than 6% of the workforce in 2010 to more than double that value in 2022.
Since 2010, Greater Madison has experienced some of the fastest growth in high-tech employment concentration in the country, increasing from 18,233 jobs in 2010 to 42,010 in 2022 (Fig. 2). While software publishing accounts for 30% of that total — and explains why our region now has the highest concentration of these jobs in the country — most of the growth comes from other advanced industry sectors.
Additionally, over that same period, non-high-tech jobs increased by 42,629. This highlights that over the last 12 years, high-tech jobs accounted for more than one in three new jobs created in the Madison metro.
Local Gains
The BDS data also assesses whether job gains or losses came from existing businesses. When viewing job gains by firm age, a clear pattern emerges to explain Greater Madison’s high-tech surge. Existing high-tech firms have been hiring more people almost every year since 2010. Job losses, meanwhile, have remained relatively consistent, with only occasional spikes
Figs. 3 and 4 demonstrate the hiring power that existing firms bring to the Greater Madison region and how much that power has grown since 2010.
New and emerging high-tech startups have also had a positive impact with a net gain of 111 high-tech establishments since 2010 — a little less than 10 new businesses per year (Fig. 5).
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Sources:
Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics of U.S. High-Tech Industries (BDS-HT)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages
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
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Metro Metrics May 2025
Metro Metrics is a monthly data snapshot that explores key economic indicators reflecting the health of the Madison Metro economy.
Latest data shows strength in Madison Metro labor, housing markets
Greater Madison’s labor market remains strong, with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country (Fig. 1). In fact, the region has lower unemployment than 94% of the metro areas nationwide.
In April, the total number of jobs in the Madison Metro increased slightly compared to March (Fig. 2). The industries with the most job growth were information – which has grown an average of 4% annually over the past five years – along with education and health services. Included within the information super sector are software publishing jobs, in which the Madison Metro now has the highest job concentration in the country.
Housing permits approved in the Madison Metro are down compared to the same period last year, largely due to a higher than typical volume of units approved in February 2024 (Fig. 3). Permitting levels continue to exceed all pre-pandemic years, with many projects currently in the pipeline.
Passenger traffic at Dane County Regional Airport has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with 5.3% more passengers arriving or departing this year compared to the same period last year (Fig. 4). Service offerings have also expanded with the return of seasonal nonstop flights to Los Angeles and additional daily nonstop service to New York City.
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Chamber leadership advocates for R&D funding during DC visit
Last week, Chamber leadership was in Washington, D.C., advocating for the preservation and prioritization of federal investments in research and innovation. In addition to significant breakthroughs in new technologies and medical advancements, agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense and Department of Energy provide critical funding that advances U.S. interests.
The Greater Madison Chamber is a founding member of the Business for Federal Research Funding coalition. Since its founding in 2017, this national alliance of more than 50 chambers of commerce and business organizations has worked to ensure robust federal research funding remains a priority in the federal budget.
In meetings with congressional leaders, our message emphasized the strong economic return on investment and the growing risk of losing advanced research and development jobs to other nations. The United States’ defense readiness and innovation edge rely on sustained funding of these essential programs.
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Wisconsin Policy Forum Releases State Budget Analysis
By Chamber staff
The Wisconsin Policy Forum recently released a Budget Brief report on Gov. Tony Evers’ 2025-27 proposed state budget. The report provides a detailed synopsis of the state’s fiscal picture, noting many opportunities – including a more than $4 billion budget surplus to draw from – as well as challenges, including rising inflation, uncertainty in federal funding and a record number of referenda by municipalities and school districts across the state.
The Governor proposes using a significant portion of the state’s reserves, prioritizing K-12 education, shared revenue to local governments and funding for the Universities of Wisconsin. To pay for the new spending, the Governor proposes raising individual and corporate income taxes as well as limiting state incentives for manufacturers and capital gains. GOP leaders have signaled opposition to the Governor’s proposed spending plans, likely crafting their own plan from scratch through the Joint Committee on Finance.
Also included within the report is a special in-depth analysis of the state’s childcare situation. The Chamber supported this work as part of continued advocacy to support public- and private-sector strategies that reduce barriers to entry for entrepreneurs and workers in the childcare industry. The Governor’s budget proposes spending $480 million over two years to fully reinstate the Child Care Counts program, which provides payments to childcare providers. The report estimates an unmet demand for childcare in Wisconsin of between 32 and 40%. Filling that demand would cost an estimated $655 million to $2 billion total.
Wisconsin is not alone in this challenge. State governments across the country are using a variety of policy approaches to address both access and cost of care. In addition to direct funding, states have created employer cost-sharing and tax incentive programs (see Table 1).
Read the full report from the Wisconsin Public Policy Forum here.
