Wisconsin’s population is on the rise, but the rate of growth has slowed over the past year amid a plunge in international migration to the state, according to recent estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of July 2025, Wisconsin had 5,972,787 residents, the Census Bureau reported Jan. 27. That’s about 15,000 residents – or about 0.26% – more than in 2024. That growth rate is nearly half what it was the year before and the lowest of the post-pandemic years so far.

Wisconsin is not alone in the trend. Nationwide population growth also slowed significantly in 2025 due to a dip in international migration. The year saw President Donald Trump begin a sweeping crackdown on immigration, which has involved everything from halting refugee programs to revoking protected status for hundreds of thousands of migrants.

In Wisconsin, the latest estimates show the number of international migrants coming to the state fell by more than 62% in 2025.

Here’s what else the Census Bureau report found.

Wisconsin’s population growth rate falls to lowest since pandemic

After several years of post-pandemic recovery, Wisconsin’s population growth in 2025 was its lowest since 2021, according to Census Bureau estimates.

The state’s 0.26% population growth rate was down from about 0.45% in 2023 and 2024, and 0.36% from 2022. Nationally, population growth halved last year, with the country’s population growing by 0.5%, or 1.8 million residents, compared to 1%, or 3.2 million residents, in 2024.

Various projections have predicted a long-term decline of Wisconsin’s population. In early 2025, the Department of Administration projected most Wisconsin counties would face a shrinking population by 2050, with an estimated statewide loss of nearly 200,000 residents.

Milwaukee County, though, defied these expectations when its population grew for the first time in a decade in 2024. The county’s population reached just under 925,000 residents as of July 1, 2024, which was up by 2,880 people, or 0.31%, from the prior year. The slight growth came after the county lost about 15,000 residents between 2020 and 2024 – the most of any Wisconsin county in that time period.

The Census Bureau has not yet released county population data for 2025.

More: Milwaukee logged lowest number of births on record in 2025, what’s behind the trend

After reaching record levels in 2024, international migration plunges

For both Wisconsin and the country, a rapid decline in international migration is driving the slowdown in population growth.

The drop comes after migration to Wisconsin reached the highest level in two decades in 2024, largely spurred by people moving to the state from other countries, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Between July 2023 and June 2024, Wisconsin saw about 19,300 international migrants and about 5,800 domestic migrants move to the state.

In contrast, between June 2024 and July 2025, the number of international migrants dropped to 7,200 – the lowest since 2020. Nationwide, the number of international migrants fell by more than 50% from 2.7 million to 1.3 million last year.

The latter half of that yearlong period saw the Trump administration start its nationwide crackdown on immigration, including in Wisconsin.

For several years, global unrest drove people to the U.S. and Wisconsin: The fall of Kabul in Afghanistan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a national and local influx of refugees from those countries. Biden-era sponsorship of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela also allowed more legal immigrants, and Milwaukee in particular became a hub for Burmese refugees from Myanmar.

• Wisconsin lawmakers are considering a bill to ban non-disclosure agreements for data center projects.
• The legislation aims to prevent developers and officials from concealing project details from the public.
• Supporters argue the bill increases transparency, while some business groups oppose it.
• The bill would also prohibit local governments from approving projects that used such secrecy agreements.

MADISON – Data center developers and government leaders would be barred from concealing key information about their projects from Wisconsin residents under legislation moving through the state Capitol this week.

State lawmakers on Tuesday heard public testimony on a slate of bills aimed at governing the boom of data center construction in the state. One bill would ban developers and government officials from entering into non-disclosure agreements aimed at keeping details of the project secret as negotiations are underway.

Reviews of data center proposals by NBC News and Wisconsin Watch revealed local officials across the country and in the state are entering into such secrecy agreements, especially when it comes to large-scale projects.

The Senate Committee on Utilities, Technology and Tourism held a public hearing Tuesday on the bill, which drew several supporters, including Wisconsin-centric comedian Charlie Berens.

“I think it is an imperative we implement stronger guardrails to protect people and not greedy data centers that only care about their own profit and not of the best interest of the community,” Erin Pintar of Milwaukee said.

The Wisconsin Data Center Coalition and the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce organizations registered against the bill, which is authored by Republican lawmakers.

Prescott Balch, a retired tech executive and candidate for Caledonia trustee, said lawmakers also should address the timeline for public input, arguing a typical timespan of less than two months is not enough for a community to understand a proposal and advocate for itself. He suggested a “cooling off period” of at least four months.

“An eager village board and staff coupled with a well-funded, marketing-savvy tech company makes it nearly impossible for the community to have a chance at making their voices heard,” Balch testified. “Give us four months as a community to organize. … Just level the playing field.”

The bill would prohibit developers of data centers from entering into a nondisclosure agreement or any similar arrangement with the “purpose or effect of concealing the details of the development of the data center with, or preventing the public review of, a (political subdivision) or person selling property to the data center.”

The bill would also prevent a local government from approving a data center development project if the operator had entered into such an agreement.

Lawmakers could take up the bill yet this session, which is slated to end by March.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

Some Wisconsinites head to the polls Tuesday, Feb. 17, for just a handful of contested primary races. The spring primary determines who advances to the general election April 8. In Wisconsin, spring elections are for nonpartisan races, as opposed to fall elections. Nonpartisan public office includes courts, school boards and local councils. There are no statewide races on the primary ballot, but voters will get to vote for State Supreme Court in April.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, in Wisconsin. Results aren’t available until after the polls close at 8 p.m. Get results for three contested Brown County Board races and five contested Green Bay City Council races.

Brown County Board

Green Bay City Council