Employment declined in 3 of the 7 largest counties in Wisconsin from December 2024 to December 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that Racine County (-1.5 percent) had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in Wisconsin, December 2025

County	Percent change, December 2025
Racine	-1.5
Winnebago	-1.2
Milwaukee	-0.3
Brown	0.1
Dane	0.1
Waukesha	0.1
Outagamie	0.2

Milwaukee County (468,900) had the highest employment level in Wisconsin in December 2025. Together, the seven largest counties accounted for 51.6 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.4 percent of total covered employment in the United States. (Large counties and county equivalents are those with annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2024.)

Average weekly wage gains in 5 of 7 large counties in Wisconsin were above the national average of 4.2 percent. (See chart 2.) Outagamie and Winnebago had the largest gains (+7.1 percent each). Over-the-year wage gains among the other five large Wisconsin counties ranged from 5.6 percent to 3.4 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in Wisconsin, fourth quarter 2025

County	Percent change, fourth quarter 2025
Outagamie	7.1
Winnebago	7.1
Milwaukee	5.6
Dane	5.5
Racine	5.3
Brown	4.2
Waukesha	3.4

Dane ($1,571) had a weekly wage above the national average of $1,569. Average weekly wages among the other six large counties ranged from $1,467 in Waukesha to $1,353 in Outagamie.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 65 smaller counties in Wisconsin, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.)  Wage levels in all smaller counties were below the national average. Ozaukee reported the highest average weekly wage ($1,325) among the smaller counties. Florence reported the lowest average weekly wage ($735) in the state.

Among all 72 Wisconsin counties, 24 reported average weekly wages less than $1,025, 14 had wages from $1,025 to $1,099, 16 had wages from $1,100 to $1,174, and 18 had average weekly wages of $1,175 or higher. (See map 1 and table 2.)

QCEW data for states have been included in this release in table 3.

Nationwide coverage of the largest counties is published in the County Employment and Wages news release. Additional information about quarterly employment and wages data is available in the news release Technical Note and from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages website.

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The County Employment and Wages release for the first quarter 2026 is scheduled to be released on Friday, August 28, 2026.