Data / Rankings / Unemployed people / Cities in Wisconsin

Cities in Wisconsin by unemployed people

Milwaukee, WI had the highest unemployed people of 35 cities in 2016, at 15,277. Mequon, WI had the lowest, at 415. The median was 776. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest15,277Milwaukee, WI
Lowest415Mequon, WI
Median77635 cities

All cities, 2016

Milwaukee, WI: 15,277 personsMilwaukee, WI15,277Madison, WI: 4,374 personsMadison, WI4,374Kenosha, WI: 2,486 personsKenosha, WI2,486Racine, WI: 2,168 personsRacine, WI2,168Green Bay, WI: 2,166 personsGreen Bay, WI2,166West Allis, WI: 1,610 personsWest Allis, WI1,610Appleton, WI: 1,458 personsAppleton, WI1,458Waukesha, WI: 1,455 personsWaukesha, WI1,455Janesville, WI: 1,411 personsJanesville, WI1,411Eau Claire, WI: 1,305 personsEau Claire, WI1,305Oshkosh, WI: 1,286 personsOshkosh, WI1,286La Crosse, WI: 1,126 personsLa Crosse, WI1,126Sheboygan, WI: 952 personsSheboygan, WI952Wauwatosa, WI: 924 personsWauwatosa, WI924Beloit, WI: 917 personsBeloit, WI917Fond du Lac, WI: 839 personsFond du Lac, WI839Greenfield, WI: 833 personsGreenfield, WI833Manitowoc, WI: 776 personsManitowoc, WI776New Berlin, WI: 774 personsNew Berlin, WI774Wausau, WI: 751 personsWausau, WI751Oak Creek, WI: 746 personsOak Creek, WI746Brookfield, WI: 705 personsBrookfield, WI705Menomonee Falls, WI: 687 personsMenomonee Falls, WI687Franklin, WI: 685 personsFranklin, WI685Superior, WI: 654 personsSuperior, WI654Mount Pleasant, WI: 614 personsMount Pleasant, WI614West Bend, WI: 602 personsWest Bend, WI602Caledonia, WI: 562 personsCaledonia, WI562Sun Prairie, WI: 561 personsSun Prairie, WI561Stevens Point, WI: 541 personsStevens Point, WI541Neenah, WI: 508 personsNeenah, WI508De Pere, WI: 484 personsDe Pere, WI484Muskego, WI: 482 personsMuskego, WI482Fitchburg, WI: 436 personsFitchburg, WI436Mequon, WI: 415 personsMequon, WI415Milwaukee, WI: 15,277 personsMilwaukee, WI15,277Madison, WI: 4,374 personsMadison, WI4,374Kenosha, WI: 2,486 personsKenosha, WI2,486Racine, WI: 2,168 personsRacine, WI2,168Green Bay, WI: 2,166 personsGreen Bay, WI2,166West Allis, WI: 1,610 personsWest Allis, WI1,610Appleton, WI: 1,458 personsAppleton, WI1,458Waukesha, WI: 1,455 personsWaukesha, WI1,455Janesville, WI: 1,411 personsJanesville, WI1,411Eau Claire, WI: 1,305 personsEau Claire, WI1,305Oshkosh, WI: 1,286 personsOshkosh, WI1,286La Crosse, WI: 1,126 personsLa Crosse, WI1,126Sheboygan, WI: 952 personsSheboygan, WI952Wauwatosa, WI: 924 personsWauwatosa, WI924Beloit, WI: 917 personsBeloit, WI917Fond du Lac, WI: 839 personsFond du Lac, WI839Greenfield, WI: 833 personsGreenfield, WI833Manitowoc, WI: 776 personsManitowoc, WI776New Berlin, WI: 774 personsNew Berlin, WI774Wausau, WI: 751 personsWausau, WI751Oak Creek, WI: 746 personsOak Creek, WI746Brookfield, WI: 705 personsBrookfield, WI705Menomonee Falls, WI: 687 personsMenomonee Falls, WI687Franklin, WI: 685 personsFranklin, WI685Superior, WI: 654 personsSuperior, WI654Mount Pleasant, WI: 614 personsMount Pleasant, WI614West Bend, WI: 602 personsWest Bend, WI602Caledonia, WI: 562 personsCaledonia, WI562Sun Prairie, WI: 561 personsSun Prairie, WI561Stevens Point, WI: 541 personsStevens Point, WI541Neenah, WI: 508 personsNeenah, WI508De Pere, WI: 484 personsDe Pere, WI484Muskego, WI: 482 personsMuskego, WI482Fitchburg, WI: 436 personsFitchburg, WI436Mequon, WI: 415 personsMequon, WI415
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: unemployment (measure 04), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2016
persons		Change on 2015
1Milwaukee, WI15,277-15.8%
2Madison, WI4,374-5%
3Kenosha, WI2,486-8.8%
4Racine, WI2,168-11.8%
5Green Bay, WI2,166-11.2%
6West Allis, WI1,610-10.5%
7Appleton, WI1,458-7.1%
8Waukesha, WI1,455-11.9%
9Janesville, WI1,411-15.6%
10Eau Claire, WI1,305-11.3%
11Oshkosh, WI1,286-16.4%
12La Crosse, WI1,126-6.6%
13Sheboygan, WI952-6.5%
14Wauwatosa, WI924-3.5%
15Beloit, WI917-15.7%
16Fond du Lac, WI839-14%
17Greenfield, WI833-7.2%
18Manitowoc, WI776-9.3%
19New Berlin, WI774-4.9%
20Wausau, WI751-9.8%
21Oak Creek, WI746-8.8%
22Brookfield, WI705+2.3%
23Menomonee Falls, WI687-3.4%
24Franklin, WI685-13.1%
25Superior, WI654+5%
26Mount Pleasant, WI614-9.6%
27West Bend, WI602-10.8%
28Caledonia, WI562-12.3%
29Sun Prairie, WI561-5.6%
30Stevens Point, WI541-16.1%
31Neenah, WI508-9%
32De Pere, WI484n/a
33Muskego, WI482n/a
34Fitchburg, WI436-10.8%
35Mequon, WI415n/a

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. 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, 2016) [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, 2016. 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=2016. 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, 2016. 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=2016.

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, 2016 [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=2016 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_wisconsin_by_2016,
  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, 2016}},
  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=2016. 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, 2016
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=2016
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/unemployed-people/wisconsin-cities?period=2016.
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 15,277 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest unemployed people?

Mequon, WI, with 415 in 2016.

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.

Unemployed people: other rankings

Cities in Wisconsin: more rankings