Map of Wisconsin Counties

Wisconsin has 72 counties, and the map on this page shows all 72. The total has not changed since 1959, when the Wisconsin Legislature created Menominee County from parts of Shawano and Oconto counties to match the Menominee Indian Reservation. Brown and Crawford are the oldest. Both were formed in 1818, while the area belonged to Michigan Territory. Thirteen more date to 1836, the year Wisconsin Territory was organized. All four neighboring states have more counties than Wisconsin: Minnesota has 87, Iowa 99, Illinois 102 and Michigan 83. Every Wisconsin county has one county seat, from Milwaukee in Milwaukee County to Keshena in Menominee County.

Marathon County is the largest county in Wisconsin by land area. It covers 1,545.2 square miles (4,002 km²), according to the U.S. Census Bureau Gazetteer Files (2026), and its county seat is Wausau. Bayfield County is second at 1,477.9 square miles (3,828 km²), and Marinette County is third at 1,399.5 square miles (3,625 km²). The ranking changes once you count water. Door County has 481.9 square miles (1,248 km²) of land and 1,888.3 square miles (4,891 km²) of water in Lake Michigan and Green Bay, a total of 2,370.2 square miles (6,139 km²), the most of any county. Ashland County, with 1,247.4 square miles (3,231 km²) of water, much of it in Lake Superior, is second by total area.

Pepin County is the smallest county in Wisconsin by land area at 232.0 square miles (601 km²), according to the Census Bureau Gazetteer Files (2026). It is also the smallest by total area, at 248.7 square miles (644 km²) including water. Ozaukee County has only 1 square mile more land, at 233.0 square miles (603 km²), and Milwaukee County is next at 241.5 square miles (625 km²). By population, the smallest is Menominee County, with 4,286 residents in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 estimates. Florence County (4,673) and Iron County (6,235) come next. Pepin County, whose seat is Durand, had 7,555 residents in 2024.

Milwaukee County is the most populated county in Wisconsin, with 924,740 residents on July 1, 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates. That is about 15.5% of the state's 5,960,975 people. The county includes Milwaukee, the state's largest city, and suburbs such as West Allis. Its population is falling. Milwaukee County had 938,609 residents in 2020, so it lost 13,869 in four years. Dane County, home to Madison, ranks second with 588,347 and added 25,727 people over the same period, the largest gain in the state. Waukesha County is third at 417,029, and Brown County, which includes Green Bay, is fourth at 273,909.

Milwaukee is not the capital of Wisconsin. The capital is Madison, the seat of Dane County, which had 588,347 residents in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 estimates. Madison was already the territorial capital before Wisconsin became a state in 1848. Dane County gained 25,727 residents between 2020 and 2024, the largest increase of any Wisconsin county in the Census Bureau estimates. Milwaukee is the state's largest city and the seat of Milwaukee County, the most populous county with 924,740 residents (2024 estimates). Dane County ranks second in population, ahead of Waukesha County, which had 417,029 residents in 2024.

Menominee County is the only Wisconsin county whose boundaries essentially match an Indian reservation, the Menominee Indian Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Legislature created it in 1959 from parts of Shawano and Oconto counties, as the federal government moved to end its recognition of the Menominee Tribe. Federal recognition was restored in 1973, and Menominee County is still the newest of the state's 72 counties. Menominee County also has the smallest population of any Wisconsin county, with 4,286 residents in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2024 estimates, on 357.6 square miles (926 km²) of land (Census Gazetteer, 2026). Its county seat is Keshena.

Eleven Wisconsin counties border Lake Michigan or Green Bay, the lake's northwestern arm. Kenosha, Racine, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Kewaunee and Door face the open lake. Brown, Oconto and Marinette are on Green Bay, and Door County borders both. Four counties border Lake Superior: Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and Iron. The Census Gazetteer Files (2026) count lake surface as water area. Door County has 1,888.3 square miles (4,891 km²) of water, Ashland County has 1,247.4 square miles (3,231 km²) and Milwaukee County has 948.1 square miles (2,456 km²). Green County, on the Illinois border, has only 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) of water, the least in the state.

In Wisconsin, a county seat's name sometimes belongs to a different county. The city of Washburn is the seat of Bayfield County, and Washburn County's seat is Shell Lake. Juneau is the seat of Dodge County, and Juneau County's seat is Mauston. Monroe is the seat of Green County, and Monroe County's seat is Sparta. Green County, on the Illinois border, is also a separate county from Green Lake County in east-central Wisconsin, whose seat is the city of Green Lake. Michigan has its own Menominee County and Iron County, and both border Wisconsin. Check the state column before you match data to county names.

You can create a custom map of Wisconsin in the Ultimaps editor. The editor is free and needs no sign-up. Start from this 72-county map and color counties one at a time, or import a spreadsheet of county names and values to color all 72 at once with data such as sales by county or population. You can add pins for stores, offices or event sites. Then adjust the palette, borders, labels and legend to fit your report or slide deck. When the map is ready, export it. A free export is a standard PNG with a small Ultimaps credit. High-resolution PNG, SVG and PDF exports are part of the Pro plan.