Big Bend and Nature Coast · Madison County

Living in Madison, Florida

Madison is a city in Madison County, with about 2,967 people.1 It feels small-town or low-density suburban, at 1,126 people per square mile.1,3

2,9671people
$78,5001median home value
$887/mo1median rent
31.21median age

Small place: Census estimates for places under 5,000 people have wide margins of error. Treat these figures as rough.

Nearest 24-hour emergency room

Madison County Memorial Hospital, listed in Madison (a small rural Critical Access Hospital).2

Straight-line distance from the town's center; driving is longer. Freestanding ERs and urgent care aren't counted.

Life in the Big Bend and Nature Coast

Tallahassee, the state capital and a two-university town, plus the quiet Gulf coast that curves from Apalachicola around to Crystal River: oyster and clam towns, springs, manatees and some of the least-developed coastline left in Florida.4,5,6,7

Hazards: Storm surge on a shallow, low-lying coast. Idalia came ashore at Keaton Beach on August 30, 2023, as a Category 3 with record surge; Helene came ashore near Perry on September 26, 2024, with 140 mph winds, the strongest hurricane to hit the Big Bend since records began in 1900, with flooding over 16 feet in places. Cedar Key was badly damaged by both.8,9,10

Read the free Big Bend and Nature Coast preview, including the region's state-certified visitor centers.

The full Madison town card

Choosing Your Place has the complete card for Madison and 779 other places:

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Other places in Madison County

Written by Charles Squires, North Port, Florida. 40 years living in Florida, in eight places.

I've lived in Tallahassee and called on schools across the Big Bend.

More about the author and how this manual is made

"Median" means half are above and half below. Figures are U.S. Census Bureau estimates for Madison as a Census-defined place; the area a mailing address calls Madison can be larger.

Notes

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024
  2. CMS Hospital General Information (Care Compare)
  3. U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer files (places)
  4. Tallahassee climate, 1991–2020 normals (Wikipedia, from NOAA)
  5. Apalachicola, Florida (Wikipedia)
  6. Wakulla Springs (Wikipedia)
  7. Crystal River, Florida (Wikipedia)
  8. Hurricane Idalia (Wikipedia)
  9. Hurricane Helene (Wikipedia)
  10. Cedar Key, Florida (Wikipedia)