Estimated 2004 population: 5,509,026

Change from 2000: +145,351

2004 housing units: 2,463,802

Housing units change from 2000-2004: +134,726

Top Wisconsin Cities

Appleton | Ashland | Barron | Beaver Dam | Crandon | Eau Claire | Fond Du Lac | Green Bay | Lancaster | La Crosse | Marinette | Marshfield | Menasha | Menomonie | Mercer | Madison | Milwaukee | Monroe | Richland Center | Rhinelander | Sheboygan | Shell Lake | Superior | Wausau

Wisconsin Economy

Sand and gravel, stone, and lime are other valuable mineral resources; zinc (as well as lead) is mined in the Driftless Area in the southwest. Important copper deposits were discovered in the north in the 1970s.

The state's greatest natural resource since its earliest days has been lumber. Dense forests (white pines in the north, hardwoods elsewhere ) once covered all except the southern prairie. The pulp, paper and paper-products industrial complex in Green Bay and Appleton is one of the largest in the nation.

One of the nation's largest dairy herds grazes in Wisconsin and is the leading state in the production of cheese as well as the second largest milk producer after California.