(The Center Square) – Unemployment rates rose in the majority of Wisconsin counties in July.
That came despite the overall adjusted unemployment rate dropping from 3.2% in June to 3.1% in July.
Localized data showed that 37 counties saw increased unemployment rates, 19 had rates remain the same and 16 saw decreased rates for the month.
That compares to year-over-year data with 28 seeing unemployment rate decreases, 19 counties seeing increases and 25 having the rate remain the same between July 2024 and July 2025.
The city and metropolitan area data showed that 14 of the largest 35 cities saw unemployment rate increases, 11 saw decreases and rates remained the same in the other 10. Sheyboygan was the only metropolitan area that saw a decrease while seven saw increased rates and six remained the same.
Milwaukee and Waukesha’s metropolitan area went from 3.6% unemployment to 3.7% over the month, the Madison area remained at 2.7% and Appleton went from 2.7% to 2.9%.
The city of Milwaukee had the worst unemployment rate again, going from 4.6% to 4.8%.
Fitchburg had the lowest rate, remaining at 2.4%.
