Dodge County, Wisconsin

County ranked by announced AI data-center load

Undisclosed Announced AI load

Campuses

Lead operator

Key takeaways

Dodge County has 88,818 residents and Beaver Dam the largest city has 16,708. Meta's Beaver Dam campus is one of two new Wisconsin hyperscaler sites in this batch, joining the 1 GW Stargate Lighthouse in Port Washington 60 miles east.Source: Census ACS 2023 B01003 (Dodge County, WI and Beaver Dam) + sources[0] (Wikipedia: Beaver Dam, Wisconsin)
Alliant Energy's Wisconsin Power & Light residential rate rose 13.1% from 2021 to 2023, the second-steepest utility rate move in this batch behind Rocky Mountain Power. The 16.9-cent kWh average puts the average Dodge household bill at roughly $1,824 per year before Meta's load lands.Source: data/cache/utility_rate_yoy.csv (Wisconsin Power & Light Co, WI)
Home prices in Dodge County rose 15.4% over three years, the steepest home-price move of any county in this batch. The $287,006 median sale price is up from $248,736 three years earlier and the trend predates the Meta announcement.Source: data/cache/realestate_yoy.csv (FIPS 55027)
Median household income in Dodge County is $73,992 against a $218,400 median home value. Only 19.9% of residents over 25 hold a bachelor's degree, less than half of Ozaukee's 50.4% just one county over.Source: Census ACS 2023 B19013, B25077, B15003 (FIPS 55027)

26.9% of Dodge County workers are employed in manufacturing, the largest manufacturing share of any county in this batch by 6 points. Meta's Beaver Dam campus is landing in a county where the existing industrial base is already more than a quarter of all jobs.Source: Census ACS 2023 C24050 (FIPS 55027)
Dodge County is 90.0% white, 6.4% Hispanic, 2.7% Black, and 0.5% Asian, the second-whitest county in this batch behind Mason WV. Only 88.8% of households have a home broadband subscription, the lowest broadband share among the Wisconsin counties here.Source: Census ACS 2023 B02001, B03003, B28002 (FIPS 55027)
Median gross rent in Dodge County is $963 per month and unemployment is 3.9%. Only 7.9% of residents live below the poverty line, half of Racine's 10.8% just two counties south.Source: Census ACS 2023 B25064, B23025, B17001 (FIPS 55027)
90.2% of Dodge residents lived in the same house one year earlier and 7.5% of adults are veterans. The county is residentially stable and not yet pulling the migration churn that the Meta announcement is likely to bring.Source: Census ACS 2023 B07001, B21001 (FIPS 55027)