Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in Wisconsin

Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force

Milwaukee, WI had the highest civilian labor force of 35 cities in 2018, at 279,634. Mequon, WI had the lowest, at 12,394. The median was 20,709. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest279,634Milwaukee, WI
Lowest12,394Mequon, WI
Median20,70935 cities

All cities, 2018

Milwaukee, WI: 279,634 personsMilwaukee, WI279,634Madison, WI: 162,164 personsMadison, WI162,164Green Bay, WI: 57,224 personsGreen Bay, WI57,224Kenosha, WI: 52,906 personsKenosha, WI52,906Waukesha, WI: 42,122 personsWaukesha, WI42,122Appleton, WI: 41,730 personsAppleton, WI41,730Eau Claire, WI: 39,412 personsEau Claire, WI39,412Racine, WI: 37,749 personsRacine, WI37,749Oshkosh, WI: 35,677 personsOshkosh, WI35,677Janesville, WI: 33,489 personsJanesville, WI33,489West Allis, WI: 32,379 personsWest Allis, WI32,379La Crosse, WI: 28,933 personsLa Crosse, WI28,933Sheboygan, WI: 26,850 personsSheboygan, WI26,850Wauwatosa, WI: 26,787 personsWauwatosa, WI26,787Fond du Lac, WI: 23,118 personsFond du Lac, WI23,118New Berlin, WI: 21,433 personsNew Berlin, WI21,433Oak Creek, WI: 21,429 personsOak Creek, WI21,429Wausau, WI: 20,709 personsWausau, WI20,709Greenfield, WI: 20,431 personsGreenfield, WI20,431Brookfield, WI: 20,311 personsBrookfield, WI20,311Menomonee Falls, WI: 20,011 personsMenomonee Falls, WI20,011Sun Prairie, WI: 19,716 personsSun Prairie, WI19,716Fitchburg, WI: 18,489 personsFitchburg, WI18,489Franklin, WI: 17,985 personsFranklin, WI17,985West Bend, WI: 17,743 personsWest Bend, WI17,743Beloit, WI: 17,674 personsBeloit, WI17,674Manitowoc, WI: 17,669 personsManitowoc, WI17,669Stevens Point, WI: 15,948 personsStevens Point, WI15,948Superior, WI: 14,723 personsSuperior, WI14,723Mount Pleasant, WI: 14,606 personsMount Pleasant, WI14,606De Pere, WI: 14,390 personsDe Pere, WI14,390Neenah, WI: 14,374 personsNeenah, WI14,374Muskego, WI: 13,993 personsMuskego, WI13,993Caledonia, WI: 12,937 personsCaledonia, WI12,937Mequon, WI: 12,394 personsMequon, WI12,394Milwaukee, WI: 279,634 personsMilwaukee, WI279,634Madison, WI: 162,164 personsMadison, WI162,164Green Bay, WI: 57,224 personsGreen Bay, WI57,224Kenosha, WI: 52,906 personsKenosha, WI52,906Waukesha, WI: 42,122 personsWaukesha, WI42,122Appleton, WI: 41,730 personsAppleton, WI41,730Eau Claire, WI: 39,412 personsEau Claire, WI39,412Racine, WI: 37,749 personsRacine, WI37,749Oshkosh, WI: 35,677 personsOshkosh, WI35,677Janesville, WI: 33,489 personsJanesville, WI33,489West Allis, WI: 32,379 personsWest Allis, WI32,379La Crosse, WI: 28,933 personsLa Crosse, WI28,933Sheboygan, WI: 26,850 personsSheboygan, WI26,850Wauwatosa, WI: 26,787 personsWauwatosa, WI26,787Fond du Lac, WI: 23,118 personsFond du Lac, WI23,118New Berlin, WI: 21,433 personsNew Berlin, WI21,433Oak Creek, WI: 21,429 personsOak Creek, WI21,429Wausau, WI: 20,709 personsWausau, WI20,709Greenfield, WI: 20,431 personsGreenfield, WI20,431Brookfield, WI: 20,311 personsBrookfield, WI20,311Menomonee Falls, WI: 20,011 personsMenomonee Falls, WI20,011Sun Prairie, WI: 19,716 personsSun Prairie, WI19,716Fitchburg, WI: 18,489 personsFitchburg, WI18,489Franklin, WI: 17,985 personsFranklin, WI17,985West Bend, WI: 17,743 personsWest Bend, WI17,743Beloit, WI: 17,674 personsBeloit, WI17,674Manitowoc, WI: 17,669 personsManitowoc, WI17,669Stevens Point, WI: 15,948 personsStevens Point, WI15,948Superior, WI: 14,723 personsSuperior, WI14,723Mount Pleasant, WI: 14,606 personsMount Pleasant, WI14,606De Pere, WI: 14,390 personsDe Pere, WI14,390Neenah, WI: 14,374 personsNeenah, WI14,374Muskego, WI: 13,993 personsMuskego, WI13,993Caledonia, WI: 12,937 personsCaledonia, WI12,937Mequon, WI: 12,394 personsMequon, WI12,394
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2018
persons		Change on 2017
1Milwaukee, WI279,634-1.4%
2Madison, WI162,164-0%
3Green Bay, WI57,224-0.8%
4Kenosha, WI52,906-0.2%
5Waukesha, WI42,122-0.8%
6Appleton, WI41,730-1.4%
7Eau Claire, WI39,412-0.9%
8Racine, WI37,749-0.9%
9Oshkosh, WI35,677-1.7%
10Janesville, WI33,489-0.3%
11West Allis, WI32,379-1.6%
12La Crosse, WI28,933-1.5%
13Sheboygan, WI26,850-0.7%
14Wauwatosa, WI26,787-0.3%
15Fond du Lac, WI23,118+0.4%
16New Berlin, WI21,433-0.8%
17Oak Creek, WI21,429-0.5%
18Wausau, WI20,709-0.7%
19Greenfield, WI20,431+0.6%
20Brookfield, WI20,311+0.9%
21Menomonee Falls, WI20,011-0.4%
22Sun Prairie, WI19,716+2%
23Fitchburg, WI18,489+1.1%
24Franklin, WI17,985-1.7%
25West Bend, WI17,743-0.5%
26Beloit, WI17,674-0.6%
27Manitowoc, WI17,669-0.9%
28Stevens Point, WI15,948-2.1%
29Superior, WI14,723-1.6%
30Mount Pleasant, WI14,606-0.1%
31De Pere, WI14,390-0.7%
32Neenah, WI14,374-1.5%
33Muskego, WI13,993-0.3%
34Caledonia, WI12,937-0.3%
35Mequon, WI12,394+1%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_wisconsin_by_2018,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force, 2018
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/wisconsin-cities?period=2018.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in Wisconsin by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

Milwaukee, WI, with 279,634 in 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Mequon, WI, with 12,394 in 2018.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in Wisconsin: more rankings