The Town of Madrid is in the northern part of the county, north of Canton.
The Madrid-Waddington Central School serves the town of Madrid, but outside the population center.
The Town of Madrid was one of the four original towns created along with the county in 1802. The south part of Madrid was lost to form the Town of Potsdam in 1806. The town gave up territory for the new Town of Waddington in 1859.
During the War of 1812, Madrid, due to its proximity to Canada, it developed a town militia, the "South Madrid Militia."
After a more diverse economy, including mining and logging, the primary industry became farming, and the commercial presence is solely to support the residents.
The Grasse River flows through the town and through the population center of Madrid. Brandy Brook flows through the northwest part of Madrid.
The population center itself lies approximately halfway between the Towns of Potsdam and Waddington along New York State Route 345. Madrid is home to the Madrid Golf Course, a 9-hole public golf course located on County Route 14 near the heart of the population center. New York State Route 310 is an east-west highway passing south of Madrid village.
There were 638 households out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.04.
In the town the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 104.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $33,309, and the median income for a family was $40,625. Males had a median income of $32,120 versus $23,417 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,720. About 14.4% of families and 20.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.8% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.