The Foxconn effect, six years in. What it actually did to Racine County.

When Foxconn announced the Mount Pleasant campus in 2017, the projection was 13,000 jobs, $10 billion in investment, and a transformation of southeastern Wisconsin into "Wisconn Valley." Eight years and several pivots later, the actual number of full-time Foxconn employees on site is somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 depending on who's counting. The factory makes server components and data center equipment, mostly for Microsoft's AI build-out — not the LCD panels that were originally promised.

By every measure of the original political pitch, Foxconn is a story of a project that didn't deliver. By every measure of Racine County real estate, it's a story of a market that quietly accelerated past the rest of Wisconsin while everyone was arguing about jobs numbers.

I work this market. I have buyers and sellers in Mount Pleasant, Caledonia, and Racine. Here's what I'm actually seeing on the ground six years in.

What Foxconn actually built

The Mount Pleasant campus today is roughly 1.4 million square feet of operational manufacturing and data center space, with about 480 acres of further developable land that Foxconn still owns but hasn't built on. There's a globe-shaped building visible from I-94 that doesn't house anything in particular. There's a Class 8 data center that came online in late 2024 and is doing real, profitable work for Microsoft's Azure AI infrastructure.

That last part matters. The original Foxconn pitch — flat-panel TVs manufactured in Wisconsin — was already obsolete by 2019. What survived is a much smaller, much more useful manufacturing-and-data-center operation that's actually generating revenue, jobs, and tax base. Just at a tenth the original scale.

For Racine County real estate, that scale didn't matter. What mattered was that the infrastructure got built anyway.

What changed in Mount Pleasant

The infrastructure investment for the Foxconn campus — roads, water, sewer, electrical — totaled about $764 million in public spending. Most of that didn't go into the Foxconn buildings. It went into the surrounding township: a new I-94 interchange, a new water tower, expanded sewer capacity that opened up thousands of acres of land for residential and commercial development that previously couldn't be built on.

That's the real story.

Since 2020, Mount Pleasant has added more new residential construction than the previous twenty years combined. The newer subdivisions — Renaissance, Foxwood Reserve, the Highland Park sections — are selling 4-bedroom homes in the $370K-$450K range that comp at $80K-$120K more than equivalent houses in Racine just a few miles east. Buyers from Milwaukee and northern Illinois are showing up in numbers, looking for newer construction at a price point that's been priced out of Brookfield for years.

If you're shopping the area, my Mount Pleasant guide breaks out where the new builds are and what the price points actually look like by subdivision.

What happened to Caledonia

Caledonia is the township that always had the land. What it didn't have was infrastructure capacity. Foxconn's sewer and water expansion changed that. The newer Caledonia subdivisions — Stone Creek, Crawford Estates — got built on land that ten years ago would have required septic systems and well water, and would have been a much harder sell.

The Caledonia value play right now is parcels of 1-3 acres in the older sections of the township, where lot sizes are bigger and the price per acre is much lower than in Mount Pleasant's newer subdivisions. If you want land within a 35-minute commute of Milwaukee, this is the buy. I have a Caledonia neighborhood guide that gets into the specifics.

What happened to the City of Racine

This is the part the original Foxconn story didn't account for.

The City of Racine — old industrial Racine, with the Lake Michigan frontage and the housing stock from the 1920s manufacturing boom — was supposed to be the big winner from Foxconn. New jobs would mean new buyers, which would mean revitalization of the historic core.

What actually happened: the new construction and the higher-income buyers went to Mount Pleasant and Caledonia. The City of Racine got the spillover, which is mixed.

The good news: median prices in the City of Racine are up 37.8% over six years. That's real appreciation. Investors moved in. Several blocks of Lake Michigan-facing properties that were boarded up in 2018 are now renovated, occupied, and worth two to three times what they sold for then.

The bad news: a lot of the appreciation went to investors and out-of-state buyers, not to the long-time residents who could have used it. The rental market got tight. Some neighborhoods saw real displacement.

For buyers right now, the City of Racine is the bargain in the tri-county area. Lake Michigan frontage at a price point you cannot find in Milwaukee County. Three-bedroom homes within walking distance of the lake in the $180K-$260K range. The Racine guide has more on what's actually moving.

What this means if you're buying in Racine County

The Foxconn effect is mostly priced in. The big appreciation runs happened in 2021-2023. Going forward, my read is:

• Mount Pleasant keeps appreciating modestly, with the new construction setting the floor and the older sections following at a lag. If you want newer, this is where to buy.
• Caledonia is the long-hold play. Land, larger lots, slow but steady appreciation. The kind of market where you buy now and the kids inherit something.
• City of Racine is a tactical buy. Lakefront and walkable neighborhoods will keep appreciating. Some neighborhoods further from the lake will not. Knowing the difference is the agent's job.

What this means if you're selling

If you're selling in Mount Pleasant or Caledonia right now, you're in a stronger position than at any point in Racine County's history. Buyers are looking. Inventory is still tight. But — and this matters — the buyers who are showing up are sophisticated. They have the comps. They know what the new builds are selling for. They will not overpay for a 1990s ranch just because Mount Pleasant is hot.

Pricing strategy matters more here than in most markets I work in. The list price needs to reflect what your specific house actually offers, not "what Mount Pleasant is doing." Get a free home valuation and I'll explain how your house comps and where the realistic range is.

One last thing on Foxconn

Whatever you think of the political deal that got Foxconn to Wisconsin, the real estate impact is what it is. The infrastructure got built. The land opened up. The buyers came. Six years in, Racine County is the fastest-appreciating market in southeastern Wisconsin, and that's not changing in the next two years.

If you're trying to figure out whether to buy here, sell here, or hold — reach out. I'll give you the honest read on your specific situation. Not the version designed to get you to write an offer.