The city of Milwaukee’s population dropped nearly 3% since 2010 to 577,222 people in the 2020 Census, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 2.96% percent decline amounts to the loss of 17,611 residents for the city.
All of Milwaukee County saw a slightly smaller 10-year decline at 0.87% or 8,246 people.
Metro Milwaukee, which also includes Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties, saw a 1.21% increase in population, a jump of 18,823 residents to more than 1.57 million.
As a state, Wisconsin’s population climbed 3.6% from 2020, an increase of around 207,000 to 5.89 million.
Waukesha County led the metro area’s increase in sheer volume, adding 17,087 residents, an increase of 4.38%. Ozaukee County had the largest percentage gain of the four, up 5.91% with 5,108 more residents to reach 91,503. Washington County was up 3.7% to 136,761, an increase of 3.7%.
Elsewhere in southeastern Wisconsin, Racine and Kenosha counties both saw population gains.
Kenosha was up 1.64% to 169,141. The city of Kenosha’s population, however, was up just 768 residents of 0.77% to 99,986. Pleasant Prairie’s population increased 7.76% or 1,531 people to 21,250.
Racine County’s population increased 1.19% to 197,727. That growth came despite the loss of 1,044 residents for the city of Racine, a 1.32% drop that was countered by a 5.86% gain for Mount Pleasant, which added 1,535 residents to reach 27,732.
Walworth County saw stronger growth, up 4.16% to 106,478.
Sheboygan County was up 2.19% to 118,034.
Combined, the population of those eight counties increased 1.43% from 2010, a jump of 30,644. Around the region, some of the top gainers included the city of Oconomowoc, up 15.5%, Hartford, up 9.9%, city of Brookfield, up 9.4%, Mequon, up 8.7% and Menomonee Falls, up 8.1%.
Some of the slower growing areas included West Allis, down 0.1%, Waukesha, up 0.6% and the city of Sheboygan, up 1.3%.
Other major population centers in the state saw stronger growth. Dane County, in particular, increased its population 15.05% from 2010 to 561,504, an increase of 73,431. The gain was led by the city of Madison, which added more than 36,600 residents, an increase of 15.7%.
Brown County was up 20,733 or 8.36% to 268,740 as the city of Green Bay increased its population 3.2% to 107,395.
