Wisconsin · NAICS 44-45 · Annual, 2025
Retail Trade in Wisconsin
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 44-45 in Wisconsin, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) employed about 294,300 people in Wisconsin across roughly 17,816 establishments, with average annual pay of $36,800.
Employment in Retail Trade in Wisconsin declined 7.5% from 2004 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 44.4% below the all-industries average in Wisconsin. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Wisconsin are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.
- 294,300Employment, 2025
- 17,816Establishments
- $36,800Avg. annual pay
- 10.0%Share of Wisconsin jobs
- 1.01Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 318,200; 2005 316,100; 2006 314,300; 2007 315,200; 2008 309,900; 2009 297,000; 2010 293,000; 2011 294,300; 2012 294,300; 2013 297,400; 2014 300,200; 2015 304,100; 2016 308,600; 2017 308,100; 2018 305,600; 2019 298,700; 2020 288,100; 2021 294,700; 2022 293,200; 2023 297,900; 2024 298,300; 2025 294,300.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 294,344 | 17,816 | $36,796 | 1.3% | pub. |
| 2024 | 298,258 | 17,616 | $35,440 | 0.1% | pub. |
| 2023 | 297,890 | 16,985 | $34,718 | 1.6% | pub. |
| 2022 | 293,242 | 16,927 | $34,248 | 0.5% | pub. |
| 2021 | 294,712 | 17,217 | $32,662 | 2.3% | pub. |
| 2020 | 288,118 | 17,361 | $30,650 | 3.5% | pub. |
| 2019 | 298,706 | 17,491 | $28,643 | 2.3% | pub. |
| 2018 | 305,605 | 17,647 | $27,736 | 0.8% | pub. |
| 2017 | 308,063 | 17,524 | $26,677 | 0.2% | pub. |
| 2016 | 308,553 | 17,567 | $25,967 | 1.5% | pub. |
The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.
By subsector, 2025
3-digit NAICS · 9 shown
| Code | Subsector | Employment | Share of retail trade | LQ | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 441 | Motor Vehicle and Parts Dealers | 40,242 | 13.7% | 1.04 | pub. |
| 444 | Building Material and Garden Equipment and Supplies Dealers | 27,229 | 9.3% | 1.05 | pub. |
| 445 | Food and Beverage Retailers | 56,625 | 19.2% | 0.92 | pub. |
| 449 | Furniture, Home Furnishings, Electronics, and Appliance Retailers | 12,459 | 4.2% | 0.85 | pub. |
| 455 | General Merchandise Retailers | 62,901 | 21.4% | 1.02 | pub. |
| 456 | Health and Personal Care Retailers | 16,749 | 5.7% | 0.84 | pub. |
| 457 | Gasoline Stations and Fuel Dealers | 32,827 | 11.2% | 1.65 | pub. |
| 458 | Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Shoe, and Jewelry Retailers | 17,798 | 6.0% | 0.82 | pub. |
| 459 | Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, Book, and Miscellaneous Retailers | 27,514 | 9.3% | 0.98 | pub. |
Where these numbers come from
Reading these figures
The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.
How this figure was built
Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.
Notes
Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.
Retail Trade in Wisconsin, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for retail trade in Wisconsin. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.
County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.