Milwaukee County · Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI jobs and wages
Who works here, what they earn, and which industries carry the local economy — Census ACS estimates for the city itself, not the wider metro.
Quick answer
Workers in Milwaukee, WI earn a median of $36,574 a year, 18% below the national median of $44,587. Unemployment is 5.9% against 5.2% nationally, and education, health care & social assistance is the largest employer at 26.3% of jobs.
- Median earnings
- $36,574#80 of 94 metros
- Unemployment rate
- 5.9%US 5.2%
- Labor force participation
- 64%US 63.5%
- People employed
- 264,398Civilian employed, age 16+
What Milwaukee does for a living
Share of the civilian employed population by industry, largest first.
- Education, health care & social assistance26.3%
- Manufacturing15.2%
- Professional, scientific & management11.3%
- Retail trade10.7%
- Arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation & food9.8%
- Transportation, warehousing & utilities5.8%
- Finance, insurance & real estate5.1%
- Construction4.3%
- Other services, except public administration4.3%
- Public administration3.3%
- Wholesale trade1.8%
- Information1.4%
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting & mining0.7%
Related data for Milwaukee
Earnings only mean something next to what things cost.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Tables B23025, B20002 and C24030, 2019-2023 ACS 5-year. Industry shares combine the male and female columns of C24030 and are rounded, so they may not total exactly 100%.