Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's Workforce Profiles: Clark County Census Data

Wednesday, July 5th, 2023 -- 11:01 AM

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has published updated workforce profiles for Wisconsin's 72 counties.

Each profile provides county-level information, analysis, and data to help employers, job seekers, economic developers, and other workforce partners make decisions related to the labor market economy. Every two years, DWD's Office of Economic Advisors compiles and distills local data on all 72 counties into individual county workforce profiles.

The 2023 profiles cover Wisconsin's historic bounce-back from the COVID-19 pandemic and feature:

Updated U.S. Census data and changing demographics, including figures for major municipalities;

Employment by 11 industry sectors, with payroll totals and percentages;

Occupational patterns within industries;

Unemployment and labor force participation rates;

Barriers to employment;

And average wages. 

Clark County added 142 residents from 2020 to 2022, growing at a rate of 0.4%, which is slower than the state's growth rate of 0.9%. Still, this ranked it within the top half of Wisconsin's counties for growth. The City of Neillsville has the largest population with 2,362 people, but it has lost 64 residents from 2020 to 2022.

In contrast, the City of Abbotsford, population 1,774, added 109 residents. Abbotsford is located along Highway 29, a main east-west route in the northern half of the state, and is also home to Abbyland Foods Inc, a large meat and sausage manufacturer.

Both factors likely influenced the city's growth. Clark County experienced negative net-migration from 2020 to 2022, indicating that more residents moved out than moved into the county. In contrast, growth due to natural increase (births minus deaths) was quite high.

Natural increase accounted for all of Clark's population growth, which tends to indicate a young population starting families. Clark County’s median age of 37.2 is the eighth youngest in the state. The county substantially exceeds the state in the share of population under 18 years old and share of population 65 and over.

To put it simply, Clark County has a lot of children and a lot of senior citizens compared to the rest of the state. Part of this unique and somewhat strange dynamic is caused by a significant Amish population. The Amish are generally associated with high birth rates and consequently a young population. The high share of population 65 or older is typical of rural counties.

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