Dane County, Wisconsin

• White (non-Hispanic) 433,966 75.8%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 44,744 7.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 29,416 5.1%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 35,051 6.1%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 26,336 4.6%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 620 0.1%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 138 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 2,403 0.4%

• Under 18 112,792 19.7%
• 18–24 78,089 13.6%
• 25–44 168,303 29.4%
• 45–64 127,221 22.2%
• 65 and over 86,269 15.1%

Median household income

$91,479

90% interval $88,532–$94,426

+$13,922 vs WI · 6th of 72

Below poverty line

9.9%

90% interval 9.0%–10.8%

−0.4 pp vs WI · 40th of 72

Unemployment (12-mo)

2.7%

−0.59 pp vs. state

County GDP

$62.8B

13.86% of state

Avg. annual pay

$77,260

Establishments

18,541

• Education & health services 67,103 18.6%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 52,845 14.6%
• Professional & business services 46,100 12.8%
• Leisure & hospitality 35,426 9.8%
• Manufacturing 25,939 7.2%
• Financial activities 21,803 6.0%
• Information 19,751 5.5%
• Construction 19,049 5.3%
• Other services 11,142 3.1%
• Public administration 9,735 2.7%
• Natural resources & mining 2,642 0.7%

The sectors listed cover 86.2% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

57.1%

−10.7 pp vs WI · 71st of 72

Median gross rent

$1,398

+$311 vs WI · 1st of 72

Owner-occupied

143,682

Renter-occupied

107,847

• Diversified

  Top three sectors employ 46% of the workforce, a relatively diversified local economy. Expect mixed employer backgrounds on the panel rather than concentration in any one institution or industry.

• Wide wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Information, $142,621/yr) pays 5.6× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $25,493/yr). Stark intra-economy class divisions on the panel; calibrate damages and lost-wages framing to that range.

• Institutional employer scale

  Average establishment employs 19 workers, typical of an institutional-employer economy where large hospitals, plants, schools, and government agencies dominate. Expect many panelists to share an employer rather than work for themselves.

• Democratic 273,995 75.1%
• Republican 85,454 23.4%
• Other / third-party 5,391 1.5%

• Spanish 26,209 4.8%
• Chinese 7,458 1.4%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 2,283 0.4%
• German or other West Germanic 1,926 0.4%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 1,415 0.3%
• Arabic 1,292 0.2%
• Korean 1,088 0.2%
• Vietnamese 730 0.1%
• Tagalog 625 0.1%

Households

251,529

Family households

134,330

53.4% of households

Married couples w/ children

42,560

31.7% of families

Single-mother families

11,499

8.6% of families

Veterans

19,825

4.3% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 82,737 14.7%
• Mainline Protestant 56,724 10.1%
• Evangelical Protestant 38,985 6.9%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 25,155 4.5%
• Black Protestant 1,100 0.2%
• Orthodox 960 0.2%

Health insured

96.4%

±0.3 pp

Uninsured

3.6%

±0.3 pp

64th of 72

With a disability

9.2%

±0.4 pp

72nd of 72

Bachelor's or higher

55.3%

±0.8 pp

+21.9 pp vs WI · 1st of 72

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

4.6%

90% interval 4.2%–5.0% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Dane County Circuit Court (5th Judicial District)

Judges

31 (Circuit Court judges aggregated across all counties in each administrative Judicial District (Wis. Stat. § 753.06); vintage 2026 wicourts.gov. Note: WI's Circuit Court is per-county (72 trial venues); the 9 active numbered Judicial Districts are administrative chief-judge regions, not jurisdictions. Municipal Court judges (limited jurisdiction: city ordinances) are separate and not counted here.)

Court seats

Madison

This judicial district spans multiple counties.

Traffic fatalities

38

8.26 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

30