By the numbers
The number of active landlines in Wisconsin dwindled to just 312,000 in June of last year, a 91 percent decline from 3.6 million landlines as recently as 2002 and likely the lowest since before World War II.
Data since 2002 comes from the Federal Communications Commission count of traditional telephone connections and does not include voice over internet protocol, or VoIP, subscriptions.
Over the same period, the number of mobile lines has dramatically increased. In June of 2002, the year when landlines peaked, there were 2.5 million mobile subscriptions in the state. By June of 2025, there were nearly 6.3 million.
The Badger Institute relied on three different sources for landline counts. The FCC’s figures go back to 1999. Earlier figures come from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, Wisconsin’s utility regulator, and, later, the federal Universal Service Fund. The sources differ in some instances in how they count lines. For instance, “party lines” are not counted in a consistent fashion.
Wisconsin’s landline decline is part of a national trend: Statista reports that the percentage of adults who live in households with landlines declined from 90 percent in 2004 to just 20 percent by 2024.
Wyatt Eichholz is a policy and legislative associate at the Badger Institute.
Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute Marketing Director Matt Erdman at matt@badgerinstitute.org.
