Wisconsin Ranks 8th in the Nation on a Wide Range of Areas

Wednesday, July 8th, 2026 -- 11:00 AM

(Wisconsin Radio Network) A new report ranks Wisconsin 8th in the nation on a wide range of areas.

According to the Wisconsin Radio Network, there’s a lot to unpack from the 2026 State of the States report published by the bipartisan State of the Nation Project. Rankings include 31 metrics grouped into 14 categories including the economy, education, the workforce, rates of violence and more.

Wisconsin ranks higher, on average, on the topics of Work and Labor Force (2), Inequality (4), and Citizenship and Democracy (5), but lower on Economy (23), Civil Liberties (26), and Life Satisfaction (26). Wisconsin also outperforms its Midwest neighbors in 0 of the 14 topics and is improving over time on 7 of the 31 measures.

Analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum finds Wisconsin’s “strong standing” may be at risk, and that overall, Wisconsin is worsening on 13 of the report’s 31 measures and improving on eight of them. For the other 10, its trend is “mixed, stable or unclear” when compared to the national level.

Wisconsin ranked 4th for income inequality, 9th for poverty, and 6th for long-term unemployment rate, where the Policy Forum notes the state has “consistently performed better than the national rate” over the last three decades.

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