Why Wisconsin Ranks 38th in National Economic Growth
Madison, Saturday, 14 March 2026.
Wisconsin underperformed from 2017 to 2024, ranking 38th nationally in economic growth. Strikingly, the state’s labor force grew just 1.1 percent compared to a 5 percent national average.
Unpacking the Forward Analytics Report
The recent findings stem from a comprehensive report published by Forward Analytics, a nonpartisan research division of the Wisconsin Counties Association that advises state policymakers [2]. Released in early March 2026, the study evaluated Wisconsin’s economic health between 2017 and 2024 using six critical macroeconomic indicators: real gross domestic product (GDP), labor force growth, population growth, personal income, median household income per capita, and the poverty rate [1][2]. According to Kevin Dospoy, the director of Forward Analytics, the state is trailing its peers across almost all of these essential prosperity metrics [1].
Demographic Shifts and Labor Force Bottlenecks
A primary driver of this economic divergence is the state’s stagnant labor pool. Between 2017 and 2024, Wisconsin’s labor force expanded by a mere 1.1 percent, a figure that pales in comparison to the national average of approximately 5 percent [1]. This represents a growth deficit of 3.9 percentage points compared to the broader United States economy [1]. While Wisconsin successfully attracted new residents during the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, those migration inflows have since diminished, fundamentally altering the state’s workforce dynamics and constraining business expansion [1][GPT].
The Housing Affordability Headwind
Compounding the state’s struggle to attract and retain working-age individuals is a severe housing affordability crisis. Since 2024, Wisconsin’s housing affordability index has slipped into negative territory [1]. In practical terms, this means that a household earning the median income can no longer afford a median-priced home within their respective county [1]. As Dospoy noted in a March 12, 2026, interview on Wisconsin Public Radio, this lack of affordable housing remains a major structural issue that directly impedes the state’s ability to draw new talent and reverse its lagging labor metrics [1][3].