By the numbers
About 5.2 percent of Wisconsin’s population in 2023 was born outside of the United States, the highest share since 1960, data from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
While the percentage wavers from year to year, it generally has been rising since a low point of 2.8 percent in 1990 – a reversal of what prevailed from Wisconsin’s statehood in 1848 until 1990.
In 1850, 38.5 percent of Wisconsin residents were foreign-born. The number had fallen to 22.8 percent by the 1910 census.
In numerical terms, the foreign-born population rose from about 117,500 foreign-born residents in 1850 to 526,000 in 1910. By 1990, the number of foreign residents was 135,800. The total in 2023 was nearly 307,900.
Nationally, about 14.3 percent of the U.S. population was foreign-born in 2023, nearly three times Wisconsin’s share, according to figures from the Center for Immigration Studies.
Wyatt Eichholz is a policy and legislative associate at the Badger Institute.
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