(Rock County, WI) The Janesville-Beloit MSA wrapped up the year is a positive economic position and that momentum is expected to enable the area to retain its competitive marketplace position throughout 2025. These details, as well as others, are highlighted in the recent release of the Q4 2024 Rock Ready Index.

Despite some minor monthly shifts in the range of a few tenths of a percentage point up or down, the average unemployment rates for the county (3.1%), state (3%) and the nation (4%) remained relatively static throughout 2024. Meanwhile, job prospects – particularly based on regional posting activities – continued to slide downward compared to both annual and quarterly data. For example, the total number of job postings in 2024 were 11% lower than a year ago. This anemic job market, which has been characterized as “frozen”, is the subject of frequent pre-and-post election commentary. Partisan chatter aside, employment opportunities for certain age cohorts and occupations remains challenging. 

Elevated residential pricing remained constant during the year, as Q4 set established average sale ($291,310) and median sale ($256,500) pricing records. Overall, the median sale prices for the entire year were 8% higher than a year ago; and this figure slightly out performed the region’s pricing gains. Additionally, local transaction volumes in 2024 were about 9% higher (both annually and quarterly) than 2023’s figures. While nationally the total number of single-and-multifamily housing starts were down from a year ago, when separated out the single-family permits activities in the U.S. were up by nearly 7%.

Here’s the good news: locally, the five-year average for new single-family home permits issued between 2020-2024 is running about 45% higher than it was during 2015-2019. Plus, there’s been an uptick in multifamily projects too. Now for the less than positive news: more single and multifamily units are needed locally, at all price points and sizes – and the same holds true for the state and nation, as well.

Although local consumers scaled back their spending during the first half of the year, that trend was short-lived: in addition to establishing a new Q4 record (at $5.6 million), a new year-end benchmark at $20.7 million was set too. These gains, at least from the view of a national lens, were potentially driven by consumers seeking to “stock up” before the arrival of “tariff pricing”. Regardless of the motivating factor(s), local consumer spending for Oct. and November represented the highest all-time collections for those two months.

While the 2024 economic development pipeline was active, it was also impacted by the national election season. As such, the pipeline’s volume and velocity tended to peak when certain key campaign milestones were happening. Political influences aside, there was more than ample activity in 2024 to keep the area’s economic development team busy. That said, decision-makers in 2024 were experiencing whiplash due to less than definitive data released by the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Indicators, the ISM Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) and others. As a result, many prospective projects failed to move forward.

Nonetheless, the diversity and scale of the prospective investments in the 2024 pipeline were – on average – representing larger footprints or buildings; commanding larger amounts of capital; and generally requiring larger staffing levels. From both a short-and-long view, these are noteworthy trends that justify the continuation of locally-driven, business-friendly policies to support business development assistance, infrastructure, real estate and workforce investments. 

Speaking of the long-game, the Ho-Chunk Nation’s Beloit Casino Complex is the featured Q4 development project. After more than 20 years of planning, positioning and approvals – this $500 million development broke ground in October 2024. Upon completion, this project will assist with driving, as well as complementing, the area’s expanding entertainment and hospitality profile.

The Rock Ready Index (RRI) is a quarterly economic development dashboard compiled and distributed by the Rock County Development Alliance. The RRI covers four topical areas: Workforce (Job Postings and Unemployment Rates), Real Estate (Residential, Commercial or Industrial) Trends, Sales (Tax Collection) Activities and a snapshot of the ED Pipeline’s growth and/or investment opportunities. Each Index also includes a Project Profile section, which highlights project-specific news during a given quarter. For more information, visit www.RockCountyAlliance.com.