Companies in Milwaukee: 39,486 businesses, a factory economy and 15 headquarters worth $102 billion

This page is for anyone who needs to find or size companies in the Milwaukee area: buyers choosing a supplier, job seekers, analysts and B2B sellers working southeastern Wisconsin. It covers the Census count for the four-county metro, what Milwaukee businesses make and do, the 15 largest headquarters from their filings, how to check a company, and a worked example among the region's machine shops and equipment makers.

How many businesses are in Milwaukee

That is 32,023 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 6,135 with 20 to 99 and 1,328 with 100 or more. Milwaukee's workplaces are bigger than average, 19.6 employees each, because so many are plants and offices rather than shops. County Business Patterns counts each location with a payroll, so one company with several plants counts several times, and it excludes the self-employed. Figures are for 2023, with employment in mid-March.

Where they are

Milwaukee County has 51.8% of the metro's establishments and 56.1% of its jobs. Waukesha County, to the west, is the suburban headquarters belt: Kohl's in Menomonee Falls, Generac in Waukesha and Quad in Sussex. In the BLS count of jobs covered by unemployment insurance, Milwaukee County averaged 467,199 in 2025, 88.8% of them private, and the metro 814,475.

What Milwaukee businesses do

Average pay is our calculation from payroll. Health care has the most establishments and jobs, but manufacturing is the metro's signature: 2,190 plants averaging 50 employees, about four in ten of them metal fabricators or machinery makers. Insurance is the other surprise, with 139 carrier establishments paying more than $187,000 on average.

The largest companies headquartered in Milwaukee

Ranked by revenue in each company's latest 10-K, with the city from its cover page:

Kohl's figure is total revenue, $14.78 billion of net sales plus $752 million of other revenue. Harley-Davidson's includes its financial services arm. Artisan Partners ($1.20 billion) and Badger Meter ($0.92 billion) come next. Wisconsin Electric Power is left out because it's a WEC subsidiary.

Two things to know about the names. Nine of the 15 make physical products, from Rockwell's automation equipment and Regal Rexnord's motors to A. O. Smith's water heaters, Manitowoc's cranes and Harley-Davidson's motorcycles. And Johnson Controls, long associated with Milwaukee, gives Cork, Ireland as its principal executive office in its 10-K, so it isn't ranked here. For companies elsewhere in the state, from Oshkosh to Green Bay and Madison, see companies in Wisconsin.

Finding and checking a Milwaukee company

To vet a supplier, confirm it's in good standing with the Department of Financial Institutions, check any state professional or trade credential it claims, and for a manufacturer ask for its quality certifications (such as ISO 9001) and a current certificate of insurance.

Prospecting Milwaukee manufacturers

Milwaukee's plants are a natural target for anything that improves throughput or safety on a shop floor, and the Census counts let you size the list before you build it.

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are fictional; the counts are from County Business Patterns.

Menomonee Valley Automation (mvautomation.example) designs and installs robotic welding and machine-tending cells.

1. Fabricated metal product plants (NAICS 332) with 20 to 249 employees: Milwaukee County 43 + 20 + 11 = 74; Waukesha County 42 + 30 + 19 = 91.
2. Machinery plants (NAICS 333) in the same size range: Milwaukee County 9 + 8 + 16 = 33; Waukesha County 32 + 16 + 12 = 60.
3. Total: 258 plants in two counties, before Washington and Ozaukee.
4. If one in five has a welding or machine-tending bottleneck worth automating this year, that's about 50 live projects; winning eight keeps two install crews busy.

It targets plant managers and operations vice presidents, and times outreach to annual capital planning in the fall and to labor shortages that show up in a plant's job postings. Working out which of 258 plants weld or machine in volume, and who signs off on capital spending there, is the research Bebop does for each account.

Subject: The welding station [Company] can't staff

Hi [first name],

Most fabricators your size around Milwaukee have at least one welding or tending job that's open more than it's filled.

We build robotic cells for runs of 50 to 5,000 parts, installed over a weekend, with your operators trained on site. Could I visit and tell you whether one of your stations would pay back inside two years?

[Your name], Menomonee Valley Automation

Next step: see the wider factory market in manufacturing companies in Milwaukee.