Madison, WI neighborhoods: a guide to where to live and explore

Downtown and the isthmus

• Capitol Square and State Street: the center of it all. The Capitol, completed in 1917, sits at the middle of the isthmus, and State Street runs about a mile west to the UW–Madison campus. On Saturdays from April to November the Dane County Farmers' Market circles the Square, and Monona Terrace, Frank Lloyd Wright's design that opened in 1997, sits on the Lake Monona side. Southeast of the Square, the First Settlement historic district marks where Madison's first settlers built in 1837.
• Mansion Hill: the ridge on Lake Mendota's shore just north of the Square, and Madison's first local historic district (1976). It has the city's largest collection of intact Victorian houses, many now apartments, with James Madison Park on the lake.

The near east side

• Williamson-Marquette ("Willy Street"): between the isthmus and Lake Monona, along Williamson Street and across the Yahara River. Its Third Lake Ridge district is the city's largest historic district, mostly Victorian workers' houses, and the Marquette Bungalows district is a two-block row of 47 bungalows from 1924. The American Planning Association named it one of its Top 10 Great Neighborhoods in 2013. It's festival central: the Willy Street Fair in September, Fête de Marquette at McPike Park and the Orton Park Festival at Orton Park, Madison's first city park. The Eastside Farmers' Market meets at McPike on Tuesdays in season.
• Tenney-Lapham: the north side of the isthmus, between East Washington Avenue, the Yahara River and Lake Mendota. Its centerpiece is Tenney Park, a 1899 park with lagoons, bridges and skating in winter.
• East Washington Avenue (Capitol East): the corridor running east from the Capitol, home to Breese Stevens Field, which opened in 1926, turned 100 this year and hosts Forward Madison FC and summer concerts.
• Schenk-Atwood: east of the Yahara along Atwood Avenue, built around Schenk's Corners, where a saloon and grocery opened in 1893. Today it's known for the Barrymore Theatre (a 1929 movie house), AtwoodFest each summer, Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Olbrich Park on Lake Monona. Find more on the east side in our live music guide.
• Farther east: the quieter residential neighborhoods of Eastmorland and Lake Edge, with Eastmorland Park and Lake Edge Park, reach toward the City of Monona.

South and near west

• Vilas and Greenbush: just southwest of downtown. Greenbush was once home to Madison's Italian and Jewish communities, and Park and Regent was known as "Spaghetti Corners" before urban renewal in the 1960s. Vilas wraps around Henry Vilas Park on Lake Wingra, next to the free Henry Vilas Zoo and the UW Arboretum.
• Monroe Street (Dudgeon-Monroe and Regent): Monroe Street runs diagonally from Camp Randall toward Lake Wingra, with a business district along the 1700 to 2700 blocks, a September street festival and a Sunday farmers' market. Wingra Park has the boat livery, and Glenwood Children's Park was designed by Jens Jensen. At the north end is Camp Randall Stadium, a Civil War training ground before it was a stadium.
• Bay Creek and South Park Street: south of downtown between Monona Bay and Lake Monona, mostly single-family homes, with Bernie's Beach on Monona Bay and Olin Park, with its 1884 pavilion and skyline view, on Lake Monona.

The west side

• University Heights: just west of campus, platted in 1893 as one of Madison's first suburbs, with curving streets named for UW presidents. It's a local historic district with Queen Anne, Prairie and Period Revival houses, including work by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan.
• Hilldale: the open-air shopping center on Midvale Boulevard, with a farmers' market on Wednesdays and Saturdays from May to October.
• Westmorland: around Mineral Point Road and Midvale Boulevard, annexed in 1948 and mostly built after World War II. It's home to Frank Lloyd Wright's first Usonian house, the Jacobs House (1937), seven Lustron steel houses, and Westmorland Park. Nearby Hoyt Park is on the National Register for its 1930s stone shelters and stairs.

The Northside

North of the isthmus on Lake Mendota's northeast shore, along North Sherman Avenue. Warner Park, more than 200 acres, is home to the Madison Mallards and Night Mares, a beach, a dog park and a community recreation center. The Northside Farmers' Market meets Sundays from May to October at Northside Town Center, and Cherokee Marsh, which the city calls Dane County's largest wetland, is at the far north end.

Next door: separate towns

• Shorewood Hills: a village of its own on Lake Mendota, next to UW's west campus, founded in 1927. It's home to Frank Lloyd Wright's First Unitarian Meeting House.
• Middleton: west of Madison on Lake Mendota, "The Good Neighbor City," with Pheasant Branch Conservancy and the National Mustard Museum.
• Fitchburg: the suburb to the south, a city since 1983.
• Monona: a small city on Lake Monona's eastern shore, with Winnequah Park and its castle-themed playground.
• Sun Prairie: to the northeast, the self-styled "World Headquarters of the Groundhog," where the groundhog has been the city's symbol since 1948 and Jimmy the Groundhog makes his prediction each February 2. See our Sun Prairie guide.

Moving here? See our moving to Madison guide and getting around guide. The city publishes free self-guided walking tours for many of these neighborhoods.