How many people are employed in Wisconsin?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Wisconsin has 2,574,604 employees across 141,992 business establishments in 934 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Wisconsin?

The largest industries in Wisconsin by employment are Full-Service Restaurants (87,044), Limited-Service Restaurants (76,596), and Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices (73,314).

What is the average payroll in Wisconsin?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Wisconsin. The highest-paying tracked industry is Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals at $172,431/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin has 141,992 business establishments across 934 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · WI · Census CBP 2023

Wisconsin Industry Benchmarks

Name: Wisconsin Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 934 industries in Wisconsin. Drill into any industry for a Wisconsin-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

2.6M
Workers: 142K
Establishments: 934
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Wisconsin

Wisconsin employs 2,574,604 workers across 934 tracked industries, led by Full-Service Restaurants (87,044 workers).

Manufacturing anchors Wisconsin; top-three cumulative share is 47%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Wisconsin sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

Wisconsin private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Manufacturing is the clear anchor in Wisconsin (19% of 2,574,604 private-sector workers (about the 63rd percentile of states by employment)), but sibling sectors still take meaningful shares. Read the treemap as an anchor-plus-breadth economy rather than a one-sector state.

#1 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

479,846 · 19%

#2 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

410,656 · 16%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

312,489 · 12%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.104 (open) · top-three 47% of Wisconsin private payroll.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns WI ANCHORED · CBP

#19/51 · 2,574,604 workers · 141,992 firms

EMP 2,574,604
EST 141,992
RANK #19/51
PCT 63rd pct
LEAD Manufacturing
SHARE 19% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 18.1 /firm
BOOK 934 NAICS
PHOTO Indiana

Nearest employment-scale peer: Indiana (2,573,310 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Wisconsin ranks #19 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	87,044	4,988	$1.9B	$22,116/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	76,596	3,925	$1.4B	$18,633/yr
Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices NAICS 551114	73,314	843	$8.1B	$109,904/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	68,944	1,075	$2.7B	$39,348/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	49,922	976	$1.2B	$24,873/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	33,737	3,884	$865.0M	$25,639/yr
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS 611310	29,741	60	$1.7B	$57,387/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	27,500	1,168	$742.7M	$27,008/yr
General Freight Trucking, Long-Distance, Truckload NAICS 484121	27,004	1,141	$1.8B	$68,293/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	26,580	386	$1.1B	$39,544/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	26,442	1,684	$2.3B	$87,708/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	25,254	1,031	$644.8M	$25,532/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	24,054	553	$1.6B	$66,936/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	23,507	1,944	$1.8B	$78,674/yr
Cheese Manufacturing NAICS 311513	22,740	176	$1.5B	$64,140/yr
Direct Property and Casualty Insurance Carriers NAICS 524126	22,480	282	N/A	N/A
Janitorial Services NAICS 561720	19,387	1,267	$496.5M	$25,608/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	19,025	1,588	$543.8M	$28,585/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	18,368	1,902	$1.3B	$72,380/yr
Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses NAICS 454110	18,358	844	$988.8M	$53,861/yr

Scale peers for Wisconsin's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (2,574,604 in Wisconsin), excluding WI.

Indiana 2,573,310 Colorado 2,555,107 Missouri 2,611,057 Maryland 2,458,634 Washington 2,749,118 Minnesota 2,788,620 Arizona 2,864,269 Tennessee 2,971,191

Disclaimer: Wisconsin (WI) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about Wisconsin businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · WI

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Wisconsin (WI). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →