Can a Data Scientist afford to live in Madison?

Excellent61% of take-home left to save — you can save aggressively here.
Median salary (gross)
Data Scientist · Madison
$126,099
Income tax (~31% effective)
United States
– $38,977
Take-home pay
$7,260/mo
$87,122
Living costs (1 person)
$2,860/mo · derived
– $34,320
Savings potential
$4,400/mo · 61% of take-home
$52,802

Single professional, after-tax. Salary − tax − living costs = what you could save each year.

Full salary breakdown →Is this a good salary in Madison? →Compare Madison with another city →

How we calculated this

• Salary: BLS OES median for Data Scientist, adjusted for Madison.

• Tax: United States single-filer effective rate (~31%). Official calculator.

• Living costs: derived from cost-of-living index for a single professional.

Planning estimates, not financial or tax advice. Updated 2026. Your situation will differ.