Less immigration means less population growth for Wisconsin

Recently, the Census Bureau released their annual estimates of population for all counties in the United States, as well as the reasons behind why population changed. And much like the rest of America, Wisconsin saw its population growth slow down in 2025, largely due to Trumpian policies against immigration.

Wisconsin saw an estimated more than 18,000 people move to the state from abroad each year from 2022 through 2024, according to Census data.

But the number of people who moved to Wisconsin from other countries dropped from 19,395 in 2024 to 7,260 in 2025, Census Bureau figures show.

As a result, overall population growth slowed from an estimated 26,818 in 2024 to an estimated 15,619 in 2025, the Census Bureau reports.

As Wisconsin Public Radio points out, Wisconsin continued to get more people from other states vs those who moved out of Wisconsin, but a 62.6% drop in net immigration caused the decline in population growth.

The third part of the population change equation involves the “natural change” of births vs deaths in the state, which added 1,161 people to Wisconsin in 2025 (59,167 births, 58,006 deaths). That finally got Wisconsin back into the positive for the 2020s in natural change after a sizable loss at the start of the decade when there was that COVID thing going on.

At the halfway point of the 2020s, Wisconsin has seen our population go up by 78,464 to nearly 5,972,800. That’s not fast enough to keep Wisconsin from being on track to lose a member of Congress after 2030, and the reduced immigration to the state is worrisome when it comes to future growth, because that’s accounted for 6 out 7 additional Wisconsinites over the last 5 years.

As mentioned, the other part of that Census Bureau report showed the changes in population for all US counties, and in Wisconsin, the four counties with the largest percentage increases in population were small, rural ones.

5 fastest growing counties 2025, Wisconsin

Florence Co. +1.41%
Adams Co. +0.87%
Tempealeau Co. +0.79%
Lafayette Co. +0.76%
Ozaukee Co. +0.73%

But those top 4 counties only accounted for a total increase of 627 people. Meanwhile, the 6th-fastest growing county by percentage was Dane County (+0.69%), but the home county of UW-Madison added the most people out of any county in Wisconsin last year, more than doubling the increase in the next-closest county.

5 largest increases in population 2025, Wisconsin
Dane County +4,050
Brown County +1,552
Waukesha Co. +1,444
Outagamie Co. +1,109
Winnebago Co. +924

Stretch it out over the last 5 years, and Dane County also has a sizable lead, adding more people than the next 4-highest counties combined.

5 largest increases in population 2020-2025, Wisconsin
Dane County +28,868
Waukesha Co. +10,221
Brown County +7,067
Outagamie Co.+5,194
St. Croix Co. +4,742

And for those who might find Dane County's continued growth to be a scary thing, you can pour your misery down on me.

But there is a flip side on that statistic, as Milwaukee County's population declined by 107 in 2025, despite gaining from both immigration (+1,973) and more births than deaths (+2,564). That's because Milwaukee County lost 4,697 people through domestic migration last year, which also likely explains a lot of the gains in Waukesha and Ozaukee Counties. And that trend was even larger earlier in the 2020s, as Milwaukee County suffered even larger declines from domestic migration in the first 4 years of the decade.

Change in population, Milwaukee County 2020-2024
Domestic Migration -41,672
Immigration +17,332
Natural Change +9,885

So the crackdown in immigration is something that can especially hamper Milwaukee County's chances at growth, as having newcomers from other countries limited losses from people moving out. And the lesser amounts of immigration also hit Dane County, as it barely added 2,000 people from other countries in 2025 after adding an average of more than 4,000 a year from 2020-2024.

If we continue to see lower immigration, it's going to be a headwind on population and economic growth for as long as that continues. That's true in both the US and in Wisconsin, and it's something that needs to be mentioned more as part of the conversation surrounding what TrumpWorld wants to do to make the country whiter regarding foreign-born people that are in our country. But even Dane County's strong growth got affected by the crackdown in immigration, only adding slightly more than 2,000 people from international migration