Before you start

Wisconsin residency, and 60 days from the date it began
Proof of name and date of birth, legal presence, identity and two proofs of Wisconsin residency
Your original, unexpired foreign or out-of-state licence
Proof of Wisconsin insurance to register a vehicle

Step-by-step

1
Exchange the licence within 60 days at a DMV service centre
WisDOT requires a new resident to apply within 60 days, or 30 days for a CDL. Bring proof of name and date of birth, legal presence, identity, your Social Security number and two proofs of Wisconsin residency. A valid out-of-state US licence is normally exchanged without a road test; a foreign licence usually means the knowledge test and often a road test. You leave with a paper receipt valid for 45 days.
In personWho: YouWithin 60 days
2
Register the vehicle, and budget for the wheel tax
Wisconsin permits a municipality or county to levy its own annual vehicle registration fee on top of the state charge. Madison levies USD 40 and Dane County levies USD 40 — so USD 80 of local fees a year at a Madison address, before the state's own registration. Madison's share funds Metro Transit operations. Register at the address you actually live at; the fee follows the registered address.
In personWho: You
3
Do not go looking for an emissions test — Dane County has none
Wisconsin's emissions inspection programme covers exactly seven south-eastern counties: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha. Dane County is outside it, and Wisconsin has no periodic safety inspection anywhere. So there is no annual or biennial test to book. If you move from Madison to Waukesha the requirement appears; moving the other way, it disappears.
OnlineWho: You
4
Seriously test the no-car option before buying one
Madison is one of a handful of American cities where this is a real question rather than a fantasy. Metro's single fare is USD 2.00 and behaves as a two-hour pass, a 31-day pass is USD 65.00, fares cap automatically, and a bus rapid transit line now runs across the isthmus. Add a bike network that is genuinely among the best in the country and largely off-road, with the main paths ploughed in winter. Run a month on transit and a bike before you commit to a second car.
Mobile appWho: YouFirst month
5
Learn Madison's winter parking rules before the first snowfall
Madison operates alternate-side parking during declared snow emergencies, and the enforcement is real. Find out what your street's rule is, sign up for the city's alert, and if you are renting, establish before you sign whether the property has off-street parking and who clears it. This is the most common way a newcomer's first Madison winter costs them money.
Mobile appWho: YouBefore December
6
Buy proper winter tyres, not all-seasons
Madison's winter is long, cold and genuinely icy — the lakes freeze from roughly January to March and the isthmus streets have real gradients down to both of them. All-season tyres lose grip well above the temperatures that are ordinary here from December to March. A second set on their own rims makes the swap a ten-minute job twice a year rather than a fitting fee.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Original, unexpired foreign or out-of-state driver licence
Passport, visa and I-94 where applicable, as proof of legal presence
Social Security number, and two documents proving Wisconsin residency
Out-of-state title and registration for a vehicle
Proof of Wisconsin insurance

Things most newcomers don’t know

Emissions testing in Wisconsin is seven counties, and Madison is not in them.

Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha require an emissions inspection before a registration renewal. Dane County does not, and there is no safety inspection anywhere in the state. This is exactly the kind of thing that is treated as a state-level fact and is not one: a Milwaukee guide and a Madison guide differ here, and someone arriving from New York, where every vehicle is inspected annually for both, has one fewer recurring bill.

Source: WisDOT — vehicle emissions programme

Madison charges USD 80 a year in local wheel tax that no cost-of-living comparison shows you.

Wisconsin lets a town, village, city or county add its own annual vehicle registration fee. WisDOT's published list puts the City of Madison at USD 40 and Dane County at USD 40 — both, so a Madison-registered car pays USD 80 locally on top of the state fee. The city's half is earmarked for Metro Transit operations, which is a defensible policy and still a real cost of owning a car specifically here rather than elsewhere in Wisconsin.

Source: WisDOT — municipal and county vehicle registration fee

Your Metro fare is a two-hour pass, and the week caps itself.

Madison Metro charges USD 2.00 for an adult ride and USD 1.00 reduced, and tapping the same card makes that fare behave as a two-hour pass rather than a single boarding — so a there-and-back errand is one fare. Day, week and month caps at USD 5.00, USD 16.25 and USD 65.00 apply automatically, so you never need to decide in advance whether a pass is worth buying. Contrast Wichita, where transfers are simply not accepted and every boarding is a fresh fare.

Source: Madison Metro — fares

This is one of the few US cities where car-free is a plan rather than a pose.

A flat isthmus, an off-road path network that crosses the whole city, main routes ploughed through the winter, a bus rapid transit line and automatic fare capping add up to something genuinely rare in an American metro of this size. It does not extend to Verona, Sun Prairie or the far west side, so the honest version is that Madison is car-free-capable near the centre and car-dependent at the edge — which is exactly the trade-off the rent difference is pricing.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Booking an emissions test that Dane County does not require.
Budgeting the state registration fee and missing USD 80 a year of city and county wheel tax.
Buying a second car before testing a month on Metro and a bike.
Ignoring alternate-side parking during a declared snow emergency.
Running all-season tyres through a Madison January on an isthmus gradient.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.