Madison's geographic position: North 43 degrees latitude, west 89 degrees longitude
Exact other side of the planet: the Indian Ocean, near the Kerguélen Islands
Actual number of square miles in Madison that are, in the popular putdown, surrounded by reality, excluding water: 77.4
Madison's highest recorded local temperature: 107F, July 14, 1936
Coldest: 37F degrees, Jan. 30, 1951
Snowiest year on record: 2007-08: 101.4 inches
Average number of days per year that the temperature reaches 90 F: 12
Population of Madison (2009 Census estimate): 235,626
Population of Dane County (2009 Census estimate): 491,357
County population increase since 2000: 15.2%
Percentage of Dane County residents who are white (2008 estimate): 88.8
Percentage who are Asian and African American, respectively: 4.6 and 4.5
Percentage of Dane County residents living below the poverty level in 2008: 11.1
Chances that a Madison resident age 25 or older has at least a bachelor's degree: nearly 1 in 2
Percentage of Dane County residents age 25 and older who have at least a high school diploma, as of 2006: 94.6
National average: 84.1
Number of students in Madison public schools, 2009-10: 24,295
Average cost per pupil in Madison, 2008-09: $13,881
Dane County unemployment rate, in May 2010: 5.2%
For the state as a whole: 7.7%
Rank of Dane County's unemployment rate among Wisconsin's 72 counties: 72
Estimated amount spent on retail goods in Madison in 2002: $5,818,321,000
Number of home sales in Dane County last year: 5,432
Median price: $200,700
Number of sales and median price, respectively, in 2005: 7,704, $210,000
Average assessed value of a single-family home in Madison in 2010: 241,217
Change from 2008: Minus 2.7%
Number of passengers at the Dane County Regional Airport in 2009: 1,501,026
Number of fixed route passengers on Madison Metro, 2009: 13,588,226
Amount of money collected in 2007 by the city of Madison from parking tickets: $5,100,152
Estimated number of swimmers at Madison city beaches in 2009: 51,510
Number in 1988: 283,055
Number of visitors to Goodman Pool in 2008: 51,851
Number of items lent by the Madison Public Library, 2009: 4,846,206
Miles of streets in Madison, current tally: 765.73
Total amount of solid waste that ended up in the county's Rodefeld landfill in 2009: 158,377 tons
Amount of debris swept from Madison streets in 2009: 8,799 tons
Number of gallons of water pumped by the Madison Water Utility in 2009: 9.4 billion, the lowest volume in decades.
Number of gallons of wastewater treated by the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, 2009: 15.9 billion
Amount spent by special interests trying to influence the Wisconsin Legislature, not including campaign contributions, in 2009 alone: $36.2 million
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, City-Data.com, Wikipedia, state and local websites and officials
