Beaver Dam, WI

Metro Area Profile

88,742 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Beaver Dam, WI metropolitan area.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: opportunity. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Growth651st of 821 metros measured31
Housing affordabilityTop 30% of 822 metros measured99
Climate685th of 822 metros measured57
Physical resilienceTop 1% of 822 metros measured95
AccessTop 42% of 822 metros measured81
Economic stabilityTop 8% of 822 metros measured85
The quick read

Residential permitting has slowed: 234 units authorized over the past twelve months, 36% below the prior year.

Rent takes 16% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 3.1 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published metro profiles, placing Beaver Dam in the top 1% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
88,742
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$75,929
Top 25% nationally
Density
101/sq mi
875.7 sq mi of land
Median age
43.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Metro area
Beaver Dam, WI
Nearest major airport
MSN
38 mi · Dane County Rgnl/Truax Fld
Median home value
$231,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$2,575$75,929Top 25%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$866$38,304Top 35%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate8.5%Bottom 6%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.9 minTop 30%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher20.3%Bottom 26%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation63.8%Top 25%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $988 takes 16% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
15.6%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$988
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$231,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.05Bottom 42%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.3%Top 40%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±9638,524Top 48%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$28$988Top 48%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,714$231,900Top 43%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income15.6%Bottom 17%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.8%Bottom 14%of 9352024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
31/ 100
Ranks 651 of 821 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing, measured from 2024 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 1% since 2020, reaching 88,635 in 2024.

At 2.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metros.

Units permitted
234
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.6
Bottom 49% nationally
Year over year
−36%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
29.9%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202489k89k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 11°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 28.4 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FOND DU LAC CO AP, 25.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation28.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low11°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing52°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

95 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are tornado, hail and lightning.

HailModerate
TornadoModerate
LightningModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, strong wind, heat wave, inland flooding, winter weather, landslide, wildfire, drought, ice storm, earthquake, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 38 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Dane County Rgnl/Truax FldMSN38 mi9,006 ft
Wittman RgnlOSH39 mi8,002 ft
Appleton IntlATW58 mi8,003 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

Cities in this metro