The U.S. recently celebrated its 250th anniversary. To commemorate that milestone, Tulane University’s 2026 State of the States Report shows how each state is living up to the founders’ ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Wisconsin ranked eighth in the nation — according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum (WPF), who worked as a local partner for the study. Overall rankings were based on an average of each state’s performance across 31 measures of its economy, environment, labor force, education, health, safety and resident wellbeing.
Despite Wisconsin’s high ranking, downward trends in some categories could see our state lose its place in the top ten.
“We should feel good about how we fare in these rankings overall, but it's not the time to be complacent,” says Mark Sommerhauser, communications director for the WPF.
Sommerheauser breaks the findings down into three categories: strong suits "strong but slipping" and weak spots.
Wisconsin's strong suits
Income inequality, poverty and long-term unemployment are low.
Wisconsin's economy ranked in the top ten for a number of metrics, including all four work and labor force categories. For example, Wisconsin's long-term unemployment rate is the sixth lowest in the country, the report found.
"In general, the areas of work and labor force, which are four of the 31 metrics, we generally do very well on," Sommerhauser says.
Wisconsin ranks fourth in the nation for income inequality, with income shared more broadly among the population than in most other states. Our poverty rate is the ninth lowest in the country, the report also found.
Voter turnout is high.
Wisconsin's reputation as a "laboratory for democracy" is still going strong, according to at least one metric: Wisconsin's voter turnout. Wisconsin's voter turnout ranks eighth in the country.
"Wisconsin has a pretty long-standing tradition of having high rates of participation in democracy, high rates of voter turnout," Sommerhauser says. "That's not a new thing, but that's an area where we we're kind of maintaining our strength."
Strong but slipping
Labor force participation is above the national average, but trending downwards.
Although Wisconsin ranks eighth for labor force participation, its edge on other states is narrowing.
"It's not like we're plummeting on that measure, but the rest of the country is kind of catching up with us a little bit," Sommerhauser says. "If we don't kind of nudge upward a little, we could slip out of the top ten fairly soon."
Fatal shootings are on the rise in recent years.
Wisconsin holds the 16th lowest rate of fatal shootings per capita in the country, but they have risen overall since 2019. Fatal shootings include homicides, suicides and accidental shooting deaths.
"We're doing better than the national average in this category, but once again, we are trending in the wrong direction relative to other states," says Sommerhauser.
However, fatal shootings did see a dip in 2023, the most recent year for which this data is available.
Newborns with a low birth weight are increasingly common.
Low birth weights are increasingly common in Wisconsin and nationwide, but they're increasing at a higher rate in Wisconsin than the national average.
"We are doing a little better than the national rate, but we are definitely moving in the wrong direction there as well," Sommerhauser says.
Low birth weights are "associated with short- and long-term health and developmental issues for children later in life," the report says.
Weak spots
Child mortality is above the national average.
Wisconsin ranks 28th in the country for child mortality, which has increased in the past decade.
"That is a significant shift from years prior, when we used to have a rate that was lower than the national rate," says Sommerhauser.
Net greenhouse gas emissions are above the national average.
Wisconsin ranks 31st for net emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. While emissions have plummeted nationally since 2009, emissions in Wisconsin have remained stable.
Volunteerism is below the national average.
Wisconsin ranks 25th in the country for volunteerism and close to slipping below the national average. 10 to 15 years ago, Sommerhauser says Wisconsin was a high volunteering state.
"We're very close to slipping below the national average, which would historically be a big shift for us," he says.
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