Most Densely Populated Cities in Wisconsin: Ranked by People per Square Mile

The densest city in Wisconsin in our data is Shorewood, WI, with about 8,267 people per square mile, followed by Whitefish Bay, WI (6,514) and Milwaukee, WI (6,136). This list ranks the top 50 places among the 155 Wisconsin communities with at least 5,000 residents.

What are the top 50 in Wisconsin?

How dense are the cities in Wisconsin?

The densest place is about 5 times as dense as the median place in the state, which has about 1,505 people per square mile. At the other end, Kronenwetter, WI has about 155. Under our scale, 4 places are an urban core (over 5,000 per square mile), 113 are suburban, and the rest are small towns or rural. Milwaukee County contributes 14 of the top 50.

Which counties do the top 50 belong to?

The 50 places on this list are spread across 20 counties of Wisconsin. Milwaukee County has 14 (Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee, West Allis, South Milwaukee, Cudahy, St. Francis, Wau); Dane County has 7 (Madison, Sun Prairie, Monona, Oregon, Mount Horeb, Stoughton, Middleton); Brown County has 3 (Allouez, Green Bay, De Pere). Counties with several entries are usually centers of a metropolitan area, where one large city is surrounded by many suburbs that each pass the 5,000-resident threshold.

How does Wisconsin compare with the rest of the country?

The median Wisconsin place with a page has about 12,664 residents, compared with about 13,459 nationwide, so the state's typical community is about the same size as the national typical place. The state has 773 communities in total, of which 155 reach 5,000 residents. See the national ranking of the largest cities for comparison.

Quick answers about Wisconsin cities

• Which is the densest city in Wisconsin? Shorewood (8,267 per square mile).
• How many Wisconsin cities have more than 100,000 people? 8 in our data.
• How many have 25,000 to 100,000? 26.
• What is the typical size? About 12,664 residents for a place with a page.

How is this ranking made?

The data comes from the SimpleMaps US Cities Database, which gives each place an estimated population and a density in people per square kilometer. We convert density to people per square mile and rank the places with at least 5,000 residents. Boundaries matter: a city that includes large parks or farmland scores lower on density than a compact city of the same size, and population estimates can include areas that share a city's ZIP codes. Read why population figures differ and how density is calculated before you quote a number.

Where to go next

Rankings use dataset estimates, not official counts.