Data / Rankings / Unemployed people / Cities in Wisconsin

Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people

Milwaukee, WI had the highest unemployed people of 32 cities in 2015, at 18,148. Fitchburg, WI had the lowest, at 489. The median was 928. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest18,148Milwaukee, WI
Lowest489Fitchburg, WI
Median92832 cities

All cities, 2015

Milwaukee, WI: 18,148 personsMilwaukee, WI18,148Madison, WI: 4,602 personsMadison, WI4,602Kenosha, WI: 2,727 personsKenosha, WI2,727Racine, WI: 2,457 personsRacine, WI2,457Green Bay, WI: 2,440 personsGreen Bay, WI2,440West Allis, WI: 1,798 personsWest Allis, WI1,798Janesville, WI: 1,672 personsJanesville, WI1,672Waukesha, WI: 1,651 personsWaukesha, WI1,651Appleton, WI: 1,570 personsAppleton, WI1,570Oshkosh, WI: 1,538 personsOshkosh, WI1,538Eau Claire, WI: 1,472 personsEau Claire, WI1,472La Crosse, WI: 1,205 personsLa Crosse, WI1,205Beloit, WI: 1,088 personsBeloit, WI1,088Sheboygan, WI: 1,018 personsSheboygan, WI1,018Fond du Lac, WI: 976 personsFond du Lac, WI976Wauwatosa, WI: 958 personsWauwatosa, WI958Greenfield, WI: 898 personsGreenfield, WI898Manitowoc, WI: 856 personsManitowoc, WI856Wausau, WI: 833 personsWausau, WI833Oak Creek, WI: 818 personsOak Creek, WI818New Berlin, WI: 814 personsNew Berlin, WI814Franklin, WI: 788 personsFranklin, WI788Menomonee Falls, WI: 711 personsMenomonee Falls, WI711Brookfield, WI: 689 personsBrookfield, WI689Mount Pleasant, WI: 679 personsMount Pleasant, WI679West Bend, WI: 675 personsWest Bend, WI675Stevens Point, WI: 645 personsStevens Point, WI645Caledonia, WI: 641 personsCaledonia, WI641Superior, WI: 623 personsSuperior, WI623Sun Prairie, WI: 594 personsSun Prairie, WI594Neenah, WI: 558 personsNeenah, WI558Fitchburg, WI: 489 personsFitchburg, WI489Milwaukee, WI: 18,148 personsMilwaukee, WI18,148Madison, WI: 4,602 personsMadison, WI4,602Kenosha, WI: 2,727 personsKenosha, WI2,727Racine, WI: 2,457 personsRacine, WI2,457Green Bay, WI: 2,440 personsGreen Bay, WI2,440West Allis, WI: 1,798 personsWest Allis, WI1,798Janesville, WI: 1,672 personsJanesville, WI1,672Waukesha, WI: 1,651 personsWaukesha, WI1,651Appleton, WI: 1,570 personsAppleton, WI1,570Oshkosh, WI: 1,538 personsOshkosh, WI1,538Eau Claire, WI: 1,472 personsEau Claire, WI1,472La Crosse, WI: 1,205 personsLa Crosse, WI1,205Beloit, WI: 1,088 personsBeloit, WI1,088Sheboygan, WI: 1,018 personsSheboygan, WI1,018Fond du Lac, WI: 976 personsFond du Lac, WI976Wauwatosa, WI: 958 personsWauwatosa, WI958Greenfield, WI: 898 personsGreenfield, WI898Manitowoc, WI: 856 personsManitowoc, WI856Wausau, WI: 833 personsWausau, WI833Oak Creek, WI: 818 personsOak Creek, WI818New Berlin, WI: 814 personsNew Berlin, WI814Franklin, WI: 788 personsFranklin, WI788Menomonee Falls, WI: 711 personsMenomonee Falls, WI711Brookfield, WI: 689 personsBrookfield, WI689Mount Pleasant, WI: 679 personsMount Pleasant, WI679West Bend, WI: 675 personsWest Bend, WI675Stevens Point, WI: 645 personsStevens Point, WI645Caledonia, WI: 641 personsCaledonia, WI641Superior, WI: 623 personsSuperior, WI623Sun Prairie, WI: 594 personsSun Prairie, WI594Neenah, WI: 558 personsNeenah, WI558Fitchburg, WI: 489 personsFitchburg, WI489
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2015
persons		Change on 2014
1Milwaukee, WI18,148-18.7%
2Madison, WI4,602-13.6%
3Kenosha, WI2,727-15.4%
4Racine, WI2,457-18.5%
5Green Bay, WI2,440-17.5%
6West Allis, WI1,798-16.6%
7Janesville, WI1,672-16.1%
8Waukesha, WI1,651-14.9%
9Appleton, WI1,570-17.6%
10Oshkosh, WI1,538-19.1%
11Eau Claire, WI1,472-15.1%
12La Crosse, WI1,205-12.6%
13Beloit, WI1,088-13%
14Sheboygan, WI1,018-20.8%
15Fond du Lac, WI976-16.8%
16Wauwatosa, WI958-13.3%
17Greenfield, WI898-21.4%
18Manitowoc, WI856-19.3%
19Wausau, WI833-22.3%
20Oak Creek, WI818-14.5%
21New Berlin, WI814-17.6%
22Franklin, WI788-12.2%
23Menomonee Falls, WI711-16.7%
24Brookfield, WI689-14.8%
25Mount Pleasant, WI679-11.5%
26West Bend, WI675-18.3%
27Stevens Point, WI645-15%
28Caledonia, WI641-11.7%
29Superior, WI623-15.2%
30Sun Prairie, WI594-16.9%
31Neenah, WI558-23.4%
32Fitchburg, WI489-10.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents with no job who were available for work and had looked for work in the previous four weeks, or were waiting to be recalled from a layoff, 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. The survey definition, not a count of benefit claimants. 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. 3 cities with data in other periods have no value for 2015 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average (Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015) [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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015. 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/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015. 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/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average, Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_wisconsin_by_2015,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015}},
  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/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), 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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average: Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people, 2015
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/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2015.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), 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 unemployed people using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest unemployed people?

Milwaukee, WI, with 18,148 in 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Fitchburg, WI, with 489 in 2015.

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: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 3 cities have no value for 2015 and are not ranked.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Wisconsin: more rankings