($1,447) Movers From Madison, WI to Tampa, FL

What to know before moving from Madison to Tampa

Moving from Madison to Tampa comes with exciting new opportunities — but also higher living costs. Since Tampa is generally more expensive than Madison, it’s important to plan ahead and budget carefully for the change.

Check out how the two cities compare so you know what to expect before you relocate:

• Rent prices in Tampa are 21% higher than in Madison, which means you’ll have less money in your pocket each month.
• Home prices are the same in Tampa and Madison.
• Income in Tampa is 6.2% higher than in Madison, so you could earn more for doing the same job. The top employers in Tampa include Bloomin' Brands, Sykes Enterprises, and OSI Restaurant Partners.
• Be sure to budget for higher bills in Tampa, since the cost of living for a single person in Tampa is 41.0% higher than in Madison. This includes routine expenses like utilities, groceries, clothing, and transportation.
• If you’re moving your family to Tampa, keep in mind that your living expenses could increase. The cost of living for a family in Tampa is 48.6% higher than in Madison.
• The unemployment rate in Tampa is 51.52% higher than in Madison.
• You’ll spend more on retail and restaurants in Tampa, since the city’s sales taxes in Tampa are 18.18% higher than in Madison.
• One perk of moving to Tampa is paying less in state income taxes, which are 100.00% lower than in Madison.

To put this in perspective, you would need around $4,230.37 in Tampa to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with $3,000.00 in Madison.

How life is different in Madison vs. Tampa

• The population of Tampa is about 49% greater than Madison, so you may find more to see and do in your new surroundings. Of course, with more people can also come increased competition for jobs and housing.
• Tampa offers better access to buses and trains than Madison, based on public transportation ratings. Tampa has a transit score of 8 out of 10 compared to 6 in Madison. The higher the score, the more public transportation pickup and dropoff locations a city provides.
• You’ll find Tampa to be about as walkable as Madison. The two cities have similar walkability scores of 51 and 50 respectively out of 100 in terms of how close housing is to businesses, recreational facilities, and jobs.
• You probably won’t see as many cycling lanes or off-road trails in Tampa, which is ranked as less bike-friendly than Madison. While Madison has a bike-friendliness score of 66 out of 100, Tampa earned a 51. Scores are based on factors like whether a city accommodates cyclists on major roadways, how often people bike to work, and how many steep hills it has.
• The crime rate in Tampa is higher than in Madison, so you may want to exercise a little extra caution as you're acclimating to your new location. While the crime index is 46.15 in Tampa, it is 34.57 in Madison. With this index, the lower the score, the better, since it indicates a city’s crime levels.
• You may want to exercise more caution as you’re getting used to your new surroundings in Tampa. With a crime index of 53.85, Tampa ranks lower in overall safety than Madison, whose index is Madison's 65.43. The safety index measures how safe people in a city feel about walking alone, both during the day and at night, as well as data on muggings, theft, vandalism, and other instances of petty crime.
• The air quality in Tampa and Madison is generally the same (Good). Cities with good to moderate ratings have clean or acceptable air quality, with the possibility of small pollutants affecting people with certain health conditions like asthma. Anything beyond the moderate rate means increased impact on residents.