Dodge County, Wisconsin

• Income near the national median: Median household income tracks the national median, indicating a broad-based consumer market.
• Below the state median: Median household income runs $1,556 (2.0%) under the Wisconsin median, so statewide income averages overstate local household buying power.
• Cost of living stretches income further: Local prices run 5.9% below the national average, so the nominal median of $75,929 is worth $80,690 at national average prices. BEA publishes price parity at state level, not county level.
• Talent gap: Bachelor's-or-higher attainment trails the national average by 15.4 pts, relevant for advanced-services attraction strategy.
• Aging population: Median age of 43 is materially above the U.S. norm; succession planning and senior-services demand are real factors.

• Largest private-sector industry: Manufacturing employs 11,062 workers (38.8% of tracked sectors), at an average wage of $70,125. Every industry figure on this page is private sector; government employs a further 5,258 and is counted separately.
• Economic scale: Regional GDP of $5B (2024).
• Wage stratification: Management of Companies and Enterprises averages $131,001 while Accommodation and Food Services averages $18,601, a 7.0x spread in the same local economy, with implications for workforce development and talent strategy.

• Top specialization: Animal Production and Aquaculture concentrates at 10.51x the national norm, top-decile concentration, the kind of signature sector that defines a region's economic identity to site selectors.
• Cluster depth: 12 sub-sectors register LQ ≥ 1.5, but 65.3% of the employment across them depends on one source of demand: goods manufacturing. Read the count as depth within that single demand base rather than as spread across separate ones.
• Attraction whitespace: 3 sub-sectors register LQ < 0.5 with at least 50 employed, candidates for diversification or recruitment depending on labor-market fit.

• In line with national: Home value to income ratio of 3.1x sits near the ~4.1x national average; affordability is neither a clear advantage nor a recruitment friction.
• High home ownership: 71.3% owner-occupied; rental supply may be tight for incoming workers.
• Affordable rent tiers: 3 of 5 HUD Fair Market Rent bedroom sizes sit below what a household on the median renter income of $49,583 can pay without cost burden (~$1,240/mo), and 32.5% of renter households are measured as cost-burdened.

• Succession risk is real: 25.1% of working-age residents are 55-64. Plan for retirements over the next decade and pair attraction strategy with talent retention.
• Healthy participation: 63.8% labor force participation reflects a steady, available local workforce.
• Talent pipeline: 1 institution in Dodge County awards 15 credentials a year. Employers drawing from a wider labor shed should read this alongside institutions outside the county, which this page does not aggregate.

Dodge County shows strong potential for animal production and aquaculture attraction, with a 10.51x concentration and 675 jobs in this sub-sector. It ranks in the top decile nationally. Near-term succession risk is elevated, with 25.1% of the working-age population within 10 years of retirement age.

Most of the employment across the concentrated sub-sectors traces back to a single source of demand. Goods manufacturing accounts for 65.3% of it, with food manufacturing the largest single sub-sector at 28.7%. Recruitment that widens the demand base changes that exposure; recruitment inside the same base deepens it.