Wisconsin small business statistics
Wisconsin produced 71,475 business applications in 2025, up 15.1% from 2024 and 63.2% from the pre-pandemic 2019 baseline. The page shows the latest employer-likely application signal, county concentration after adjusting for population, private-sector labor growth, SBA lending, unincorporated receipts, bankruptcy filings, and federal contract demand.
Public source files covering Wisconsin business formation, labor, lending, proprietor income, bankruptcy, and federal contracting.
What the data shows
The topline combines new filing volume, employer-likely application quality, county concentration, labor-market structure, lending, and business stress signals.
Wisconsin logged 71,475 business applications in 2025, up 15.1% from 2024 and 63.2% from the pre-pandemic 2019 baseline.
Through May 2026, total applications were up 18.2% from the same months in 2025; high-propensity applications were up 1.7%.
Milwaukee filed 16,408 applications in 2025, the largest county total in Wisconsin. Milwaukee also led the high-volume counties after adjusting for population.
Health care and social assistance added the most private-sector establishments since 2019. Construction added the most private-sector jobs.
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals to Wisconsin businesses reached $756.5M in FY2025 across 1,328 loans, led by accommodation and food services, manufacturing, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and other services.
Business bankruptcy cases tied to Wisconsin counties rose from 190 to 242 in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2026.
New business formation
Wisconsin business applications reached 71,475 in 2025, up 15.1% from 2024. Through May 2026, applications were running up 18.2% from the same months in 2025.
The long comparison starts before the pandemic reset.
The 2019 comparison uses the last full pre-pandemic year. The shutdown period and the business churn that followed reshaped EIN filing patterns; high-propensity applications totaled 9,310 through May 2026, up 1.7% from Jan-May 2025. Projected business formations within eight quarters rose 13.1% over the same period.
Metric note: Census BFS counts applications for employer identification numbers. Applications are early filings; confirmed operating-business counts arrive later.
Where applications are concentrated
Milwaukee is the largest application market by raw volume. Among the high-volume counties shown below, Milwaukee stands out most after adjusting for population.
Population-adjusted filing volume changes the county read.
The chart uses 2025 Census BFS applications divided by Census Vintage 2025 resident population estimates. Milwaukee leads both the raw filing count and the population-adjusted rate among the high-volume counties shown below.
Metric note: Census BFS counts EIN applications. The denominator is 2025 resident population, not existing businesses, so this is a scale adjustment rather than a startup conversion rate.
| County | 2025 applications | Change vs 2024 | Change vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee | 16,408 | +13.6% | +52.9% |
| Dane | 7,374 | +12.6% | +47.8% |
| Waukesha | 4,720 | +16.9% | +51.8% |
| Outagamie | 3,337 | +22.3% | +98.2% |
| Brown | 3,049 | +14.8% | +86.8% |
| Racine | 2,402 | +24.6% | +81.3% |
| Kenosha | 1,907 | +23.0% | +73.8% |
| Rock | 1,837 | +20.2% | +88.2% |
| Winnebago | 1,828 | +34.6% | +104.5% |
| Walworth | 1,399 | +15.7% | +67.7% |
| Marathon | 1,385 | +16.5% | +68.7% |
| Washington | 1,379 | +12.3% | +63.4% |
Jobs, establishments, and wages
In 2024, Wisconsin had 195,879 private-sector establishments and 2,557,800 private-sector jobs in the QCEW annual file. Establishments changed 16.1% from 2019 to 2024; jobs changed 2.0%.
Health care and social assistance is the establishment-growth story.
Health care and social assistance added 10,875 establishments from 2019 to 2024. Construction added 16,614 jobs over the same period.
QCEW tracks employer establishments. It is the recurring source here for jobs, wages, payroll, and local industry structure.
| Industry | 2024 establishments | Change vs 2019 | 2024 jobs | Change vs 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 38,478 | +10,875 (+39.4%) | 417,852 | +14,758 (+3.7%) |
| Professional services | 22,629 | +5,998 (+36.1%) | 130,308 | +15,004 (+13.0%) |
| Construction | 15,864 | +1,041 (+7.0%) | 140,998 | +16,614 (+13.4%) |
| Accommodation and food services | 14,979 | +637 (+4.4%) | 241,606 | +113 (+0.0%) |
| Wholesale trade | 13,271 | +394 (+3.1%) | 132,126 | +8,632 (+7.0%) |
| Other services | 13,102 | -655 (-4.8%) | 81,973 | -2,294 (-2.7%) |
| Administrative services | 10,610 | +1,815 (+20.6%) | 134,696 | -9,920 (-6.9%) |
| Finance and insurance | 10,329 | +1,381 (+15.4%) | 126,732 | +3,409 (+2.8%) |
| Real estate and rental | 6,227 | +1,109 (+21.7%) | 28,972 | +1,968 (+7.3%) |
| Information | 3,258 | +923 (+39.5%) | 47,065 | +72 (+0.2%) |
SBA lending
SBA 7(a) and 504 approvals to Wisconsin businesses totaled $756.5M in FY2025 across 1,328 loans. The SBA files report 14,316 jobs supported for those approvals.
Accommodation and food services drew the most SBA capital.
Accommodation and food services drew $162.4M in FY2025 SBA approvals. manufacturing, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and other services also ranked among the top capital destinations.
SBA fiscal year 2025 ran from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. The source package was current as of April 28, 2026.
| Sector | FY2025 loans | FY2025 approvals | SBA jobs supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 220 | $162.4M | 3,498 |
| Manufacturing | 121 | $118.8M | 1,682 |
| Retail trade | 149 | $88.5M | 1,306 |
| Health care and social assistance | 124 | $65.0M | 1,851 |
| Other services | 127 | $63.8M | 820 |
| Construction | 146 | $50.4M | 951 |
| Professional services | 105 | $47.3M | 1,022 |
| Arts and entertainment | 64 | $42.6M | 707 |
| Transportation and warehousing | 79 | $33.3M | 723 |
| Administrative services | 78 | $28.2M | 1,026 |
| County | FY2025 loans | FY2025 approvals | SBA jobs supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee | 210 | $109.5M | 2,392 |
| Waukesha | 141 | $80.3M | 1,726 |
| Dane | 139 | $64.7M | 1,643 |
| Racine | 52 | $41.7M | 470 |
| Brown | 64 | $39.7M | 702 |
| Outagamie | 50 | $34.8M | 586 |
| Eau Claire | 41 | $32.8M | 446 |
| Kenosha | 46 | $23.8M | 326 |
| Sheboygan | 38 | $21.4M | 229 |
| Manitowoc | 30 | $20.3M | 465 |
The unincorporated business economy
IRS SOI data show 412,884 Wisconsin Schedules C and partnership returns/forms in Tax Year 2023. Those businesses reported $83.6B in gross receipts and $8.8B in the combined income/profit measure.
Sole proprietors account for most returns.
Wisconsin had 358,469 nonfarm sole-proprietor Schedules C in Tax Year 2023, with $27.2B in gross receipts and $5.2B in net profit.
Partnerships reported more gross receipts.
Wisconsin partnerships filed 54,415 Forms 1065 in Tax Year 2023 and reported $56.5B in gross receipts.
| County | Returns/forms | Gross receipts | Combined income/profit metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee | 63,501 | $15.2B | $1.6B |
| Dane | 46,744 | $8.4B | $1.1B |
| Waukesha | 33,079 | $8.1B | $504.5M |
| Brown | 17,075 | $4.6B | $487.1M |
| Outagamie | 13,070 | $3.3B | $273.1M |
| Racine | 11,242 | $1.3B | $207.1M |
| Winnebago | 10,470 | $2.0B | $196.5M |
| Kenosha | 9,881 | $1.9B | $235.3M |
| Washington | 9,866 | $1.3B | $214.6M |
| Rock | 9,255 | $1.9B | $50.0M |
Business stress signals
U.S. Courts F-5A shows 242 business bankruptcy cases tied to Wisconsin counties in the 12 months ending March 31, 2026, rose from 190 in the prior 12-month period. Chapter 11 cases totaled 54.
County bankruptcy rows can move sharply.
Milwaukee had the largest business-bankruptcy count in the latest F-5A table. County bankruptcy rows can move when related business cases are filed in the same venue, so this table works best as a lead for follow-up reporting.
Definition: U.S. Courts classifies debt as business when the debtor is a corporation or partnership, or when business-related debt predominates.
| County | Business cases, 12 months ending Mar. 31, 2026 | Change vs prior 12 months | Chapter 11 cases | All bankruptcy cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee | 47 | +10 | 14 | 3,534 |
| Dane | 26 | +5 | 5 | 599 |
| Waukesha | 16 | -10 | 4 | 501 |
| Winnebago | 11 | +5 | 4 | 251 |
| Brown | 11 | +4 | 2 | 489 |
| Outagamie | 10 | -3 | 1 | 294 |
| Sheboygan | 9 | +6 | 1 | 172 |
| Rock | 9 | +3 | 4 | 283 |
| Ozaukee | 6 | -1 | 2 | 96 |
| St. Croix | 5 | +1 | 0 | 108 |
National credit backdrop
The 2026 Fed Small Business Credit Survey appendix reported that 94% of U.S. employer firms faced a financial challenge in 2025, 38% applied for financing, and 52% of applicants were fully approved.
Federal contract demand
USAspending reports $29.6B in FY2025 federal procurement obligations to recipients located in Wisconsin. The filter covers procurement awards to WI recipients across award type codes A, B, C, and D.
| NAICS | Federal procurement category | FY2025 obligations |
|---|---|---|
| 524114 | Direct Health and Medical Insurance Carriers | $22.6B |
| 621111 | Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) | $2.5B |
| 336212 | Truck Trailer Manufacturing | $1.1B |
| 332993 | Ammunition (except Small Arms) Manufacturing | $401.1M |
| 336120 | Heavy Duty Truck Manufacturing | $215.0M |
| 334517 | Irradiation Apparatus Manufacturing | $158.9M |
| 336611 | Ship Building and Repairing | $147.7M |
| 541330 | Engineering Services | $143.3M |
| 722310 | Food Service Contractors | $134.4M |
| 333120 | Construction Machinery Manufacturing | $113.2M |
Sources and methodology
The charts and figures on this page come from public source files or APIs. Annual sources use the most recent complete year available; partial-year figures are labeled in the text.
- Census BFS monthly CSV
Updated June 10, 2026, 14:00 GMT - Census BFS county workbook
Updated June 10, 2026, 14:22 GMT - Census county population estimates
Vintage 2025 county resident population estimates - BLS QCEW annual area files
2019 and 2024 annual API files - SBA 7(a)/504 FOIA package
Updated April 28, 2026, 14:42 GMT - IRS SOI Tax Year 2023 unincorporated tables
Tax Year 2023 county combined, sole proprietor state, and partnership state tables - U.S. Courts F-5A bankruptcy XLSX
12 months ending March 31, 2026 - Fed SBCS Main Street Metrics appendix
Last updated March 23, 2026 - USAspending API
FY2025 procurement obligations
Alex Morgan edits public business datasets for SMB Statistics, including Census, BLS, SBA, IRS, U.S. Courts, Fed SBCS, and USAspending files.