Population-wise, these are happy days for Wisconsin, as the state has seen its highest levels of net migration in two decades, according to a March 2025 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF).
These gains have been bolstered by a national increase in migrants entering the United States from abroad, but President Donald Trump’s immigration policies threaten to slow or reverse these gains. In each of the last three years, net migration to Wisconsin — domestic and international combined — was at least 25,000 people, which is more than twice the previous annual record in the previous two decades.
The most recent year is particularly illustrative of this trend. Based on U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Wisconsin saw an estimated net gain of 22,146 residents through international migration during the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2024. Coupled with a net gain of 6,332 residents via domestic migration, the state saw an estimated net migration of 28,478 residents during that period.
Wisconsin’s recent net migration levels, on a per capita basis, place it roughly in the middle of the pack among the 50 states, according to the WPF. The state ranked 26th among all states with an average annual rate of per capita net migration of 45.9 per 10,000 residents. However, Wisconsin ranked second among the 12 Midwest states, and first among its neighboring states, in per capita rates of net migration.
Mark Sommerhauser, communications director and policy researcher for WPF, said southwestern states such as Florida and Texas continue to outpace states in other regions, but Wisconsin’s performance among its Midwestern peers still comes as a surprise. “The finding was a bit counterintuitive because there’s a narrative that has taken hold that there’s been an exodus from the state, and that is not accurate,” Sommerhauser said. “That really doesn’t hold up when you look at the data.”
The one cautionary note is the recent change in federal immigration policies. Sommerhauser said Trump’s “mass deportation” program could well have a dampening effect, but also said court challenges, the state of the economy, and other factors come into play.
“We don’t know to what extent this administration is going to be able to enforce its policy, because having an immigration policy and actually enforcing it, as we’ve seen, are two different things,” he said. “There are a lot of drivers of immigration beyond the policy realm. We see big upticks in immigration, especially on our southern border, when our economy is red hot and we’re creating a lot of jobs.”
Coming to America
- Wisconsin’s migration increase is part of a national trend linked to a record influx of international migrants. The Census Bureau found that in the 12-month period that ended June 30, 2024, international migration resulted in a net population increase of 2.8 million residents nationwide. This followed net international migration increases of 1.7 million in 2022 and 2.3 million in 2023.
- Since July 2021, Wisconsin has added 81,605 residents due to net migration. This exceeds the total amount of net migration Wisconsin saw during the preceding 18-year period from 2004 to 2021.
- Of the total net migration to Wisconsin since 2021, nearly three-fourths, or more than 60,000, came from international migration, Census Bureau estimates show. The remainder, just over 21,000, came from domestic migration.
- Just 6.8% of Wisconsin’s population growth in 2024 came from natural change, which is calculated as births minus deaths in a given geography during a certain time period. This underscores the importance of migration to growing the state’s population.
Source: Wisconsin Policy Forum
