The number of people moving to Wisconsin hit at least a 20-year high last year. And the state’s biggest counties are growing — including Milwaukee County, which grew for the first time since 2014.
That’s according to population estimates released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
In total, the bureau estimates Wisconsin grew by 30,000 people in 2024.
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Around 28,000 of those people moved to Wisconsin — 6,000 from other states, and 22,000 from abroad.
“The national increase in immigration has definitely had an impact on our population here in Wisconsin,” said Mark Sommerhauser, communications director at Wisconsin Policy Forum.
The nonpartisan policy research outfit published a last week report summing up the state’s migration trends.
According to the Census Bureau, 2.8 million people migrated to the United States in 2024.
The bureau issues annual demographic estimates for 12-month periods ending every July. Newly-released 2024 numbers refer to the period between July 2023 and July 2024.
It broke down its latest data by county.
Births are not driving population growth in Wisconsin
The census divides population growth into migration and natural change, which is calculated by subtracting annual deaths from births.
Natural change used to be the “engine” of Wisconsin’s population growth, Sommerhauser said.
It was responsible for more than 20,000 new Wisconsinites a year between 2004 and 2010, according to the Policy Forum report.
Then, natural change started to ebb.
“That, within the last few years, has completely flipped,” Sommerhauser said.
Natural change fell to about 10,000 by 2019. In 2024, it added only about 2,000 people to Wisconsin’s population, while migration has soared.
Sommerhauser said there’s reason to “anticipate that international migration is going to decline” due to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Milwaukee County grew for the first time since 2014
One standout county in 2024 was Milwaukee, which added population for the first time in ten years — almost 3,000 new people.
“It’s encouraging news,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Over 6,000 people moved to Milwaukee County from abroad in 2024. But domestically, about 5,600 people left the county — by far the highest domestic out-migration from any Wisconsin county in 2024.
“If people have been here for so many years, they’ve seen the dwindling of so many services,” Crowley said of the out-migration.
But he called the overall growth an “opportunity” for the county.
“It’s going to take even greater partnerships at the state and federal level to make sure that we’re investing in the people who are coming into our community,” Crowley said.
Data tells different story about each county
Dane County had the highest net growth, adding about 8,600 people via natural change and migration. Its percentage growth was only behind Menominee County.
Waukesha County grew as well. It was the only one of Wisconsin’s four largest counties with more domestic migrants than international ones last year.
As far as natural change, 45 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties saw more deaths than births in 2024.
However, in all but 16 of those counties, international and domestic migration made up for natural losses.
That dynamic was strongest in Winnebago, Marinette, Manitowoc and Dodge counties.
Those four had the biggest differences between a natural decline and a migration gain — and all ultimately grew in size.
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