Madison Reporter

The Greater Madison region continues to see strong growth in its high-tech sector, according to the latest Metro Metrics report for July 2025. The monthly data snapshot, produced by the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, examines economic indicators that reflect the health of the local economy.

The report notes that Greater Madison is recognized as one of Wisconsin’s key drivers of innovation and features a highly diverse employment landscape. Advanced industries—defined by the Brookings Institution as those with a large share of STEM workers and significant R&D investment—are central to this growth. These sectors include advanced manufacturing, medical devices, and technology services.

According to research cited in the report, each job created in an advanced industry leads to an additional 2.2 jobs elsewhere: 0.8 locally and 1.4 nationally. This multiplier effect supports nearly a quarter of all domestic employment.

Among Greater Madison’s leading advanced industries are software publishing (employing 13,748 people with a location quotient of 8.27), scientific research and development (6,126 employed; 2.54 LQ), architectural and engineering services (5,732 employed; 1.28 LQ), and medical laboratories (3,714 employed; 4.56 LQ).

Data from the Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics shows a marked improvement in Madison’s national standing within high-tech employment concentration over recent decades. In 1978, Madison ranked 147th among U.S. metros for its proportion of employees working in high-tech industries—behind peer cities such as Ann Arbor, Austin, Portland, and Raleigh. By 2022, it had climbed to 11th place nationwide.

While median high-tech employment across U.S. metropolitan areas has held steady at about two to three percent since 1980, Greater Madison saw its own proportion rise from under six percent in 2010 to more than double that figure by 2022.

Since that year, Greater Madison has recorded some of the fastest growth rates in high-tech job concentration nationally: from 18,233 jobs in 2010 up to 42,010 by 2022. Although software publishing makes up roughly thirty percent of these positions—and gives the region its highest-in-the-nation concentration—the majority of new jobs have come from other advanced industry sectors.

Non-high-tech jobs also increased during this period by over forty-two thousand positions. High-tech roles accounted for more than one-third of all new jobs created locally over the past twelve years.

Analysis further indicates that most job gains stemmed from existing businesses expanding their workforce nearly every year since 2010; job losses remained relatively stable with only occasional spikes during this time frame.

Additionally, new startups contributed positively with a net gain of one hundred eleven high-tech establishments since 2010—averaging just under ten new businesses per year.

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