Sell Your Commercial Property In Madison, AL

Who rents in Madison

The 2020–2024 American Community Survey counts 60,106 residents in Madison and 22,496 occupied homes, of which 5,854, or 26.0%, are rented. That is well below Huntsville's 41.7% and Madison County's 31.7%. Incomes explain much of the difference: Madison's median household income is $134,655, against $86,499 for the county and $74,714 for Huntsville.

The job base is the same one that drives Huntsville. The Army says Redstone Arsenal hosts a government and contractor workforce of 36,000 to 40,000 on an average day, Cummings Research Park counts 300 companies and organizations, and Mazda Toyota Manufacturing lists 4,000 jobs at its plant with capacity for 300,000 vehicles a year. Madison's renters carry a low cost burden: only 35.6% of renter households spend 30% or more of income on rent and utilities, and 982, about 16.8%, spend half or more.

Rents and affordability

Median gross rent in Madison is $1,453, about $280 above Huntsville and $244 above the county. The city's median is also above HUD's two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the metro, so a Madison rent roll is better judged against local comparables than against the metro schedule:

Source: HUD Fair Market Rents, Huntsville MSA, which covers both Madison and Limestone counties.

The apartment stock

Madison has 23,278 housing units, and 17,435, or 74.9%, are detached houses. Two- to four-unit buildings are almost absent, with 959 units. Buildings of five or more hold 3,658 units, 15.7% of the stock: 1,310 in buildings of 5 to 9 units, 921 in buildings of 10 to 19, 725 in buildings of 20 to 49 and 702 in complexes of 50 or more. The median unit was built in 2001, 16 years newer than Huntsville's median of 1985. With few small apartment buildings and a young stock, Madison's multifamily market is thin, so a sale here has few direct comparables.

Downtown Madison and the Town Madison development lie inside the city. Harvest and Monrovia are unincorporated communities taxed at county rates.

Madison within the county market

Madison is a small slice of the county's rental market. Its 5,854 renter households are about 11% of Madison County's 52,297, and its 3,658 units in buildings of five or more are about 12% of the county's 29,717. Huntsville alone holds 25,429 such units. For a seller, that scarcity cuts both ways: there is little competing apartment supply inside Madison, but buyers have far more choice a few miles away and will compare price per unit and taxes against Huntsville properties before paying a Madison premium.

Property taxes on apartment buildings in Madison and Limestone counties

Apartments are Class II property, assessed at 20% of appraised value (ADOR). Madison's city levy is 46.5 mills, 33.5 of them for education, under the state's October 2025 millage table. On the Madison County side, adding 6.5 state, 11.0 county and 5.5 school mills gives 69.5 mills; on the Limestone County side, 6.5 state, 13.5 county and 5.5 school mills give 72.0. A $2 million building, assessed at $400,000, would owe about $27,800 or $28,800 a year. Unincorporated Madison County parcels instead pay 14.0 county mills on improvements and a 16.0-mill school total, about 36.5 mills with the state levy. Owners have 30 days to appeal a valuation notice (ADOR), and the 7% HB73 cap on yearly growth in taxable value ends on a sale (ADOR). The deed tax is $0.50 per $500 of value (§ 40-22-1), about $2,000 on a $2 million sale with no assumed mortgage.

Compared side by side on the same $2 million building, the October 2025 rates produce about $27,800 a year in the Madison County part of the city, $23,200 at Huntsville's 58.0 mills and about $14,600 in unincorporated areas. On 40 units, the gap between Madison and Huntsville is about $115 per unit per year.

Landlord rules

Alabama bars local rent control (§ 11-80-8.1). Deposits are limited to one month's rent, with extra deposits allowed for pets or alterations, and must be returned or itemized within 60 days or the landlord owes double (§ 35-9A-201). A nonpayment notice can end a lease no sooner than 7 business days after receipt (§ 35-9A-421).

What this means if you own a building here

Madison buildings combine strong rents and low tenant cost burden with one of the higher combined tax rates in the region. A buyer will recompute taxes at 69.5 or 72.0 mills on a new appraisal and weigh that against rents that run well above the Huntsville median. Skyline Capital Investments buys 5+ unit buildings in Madison and across the Huntsville metro. You can estimate your building's value, model a 1031 exchange, or request an offer.