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Nonprofits in Wisconsin

The IRS recognizes 39,461 tax-exempt organizations with a Wisconsin address, rank 19 of 51. 13,851 of them have a Form 990 on record.

California · 203,805Alaska · 5,878

Wisconsin is 19 of 51 by tax-exempt organizations, at 39,461. Highest on the left.

The 51 figures behind this strip
Every jurisdiction by tax-exempt organizations, highest first, with Wisconsin marked
RankNameTax-exempt organizations
1California203,805
2Texas155,577
3New York125,130
4Florida114,851
5Pennsylvania82,237
6Ohio77,494
7Illinois75,114
8Georgia62,701
9North Carolina59,487
10Michigan56,832
11Virginia54,568
12New Jersey53,855
13Indiana44,650
14Missouri44,280
15Massachusetts44,202
16Maryland43,818
17Washington42,812
18Minnesota40,399
19Wisconsin39,461
20Tennessee39,235
21Colorado36,502
22South Carolina32,575
23Arizona31,700
24Iowa30,339
25Oregon27,028
26Alabama26,440
27Louisiana24,098
28Connecticut23,749
29Kentucky22,861
30Oklahoma22,534
31Kansas18,568
32Arkansas16,404
33Mississippi15,898
34Nebraska14,915
35District of Columbia14,200
36Nevada13,586
37Utah13,160
38Montana12,397
39West Virginia11,851
40New Mexico11,324
41Idaho10,569
42Delaware10,529
43Maine10,385
44Hawaii9,679
45New Hampshire9,562
46South Dakota7,469
47North Dakota6,823
48Rhode Island6,675
49Vermont6,606
50Wyoming6,159
51Alaska5,878

At a glance

39,461
Organizations recognized
Registration, not activity.
30,700
Recognized under 501(c)(3)
The charitable subsection.
13,851
With a Form 990 on record
The only organizations with financial figures here.
660.7
Per 100,000 residents
Census resident population as the denominator.
$69.0 billion
Revenue reported
$68,974,641,346
Summed across filings, each for a different year.
2.0%
Share of all US organizations
Of 1,975,975 recognized nationally.

Taken from the IRS on October 14, 2026. Address of record, which is not necessarily where an organization operates.

Largest by revenue

2 more columns on a wider screen

Organizations in Wisconsin by total revenue on their most recent Form 990
RankOrganizationRevenue
1Aurora Health Care Inc$7.4 billion
2Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital Inc$2.9 billion
3The Medical College of Wisconsin Inc$1.8 billion
4Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center Inc$1.7 billion
5University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation Inc$1.6 billion
6Security Health Plan of Wisconsin Inc$1.5 billion
7MCHS Hospitals Inc$1.5 billion
8Froedtert Thedacare Health Inc$1.4 billion
9Gundersen Lutheran Administrative Services Inc$1.3 billion
10Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin Inc$1.0 billion
11Delta Dental of Wisconsin Inc$984.0 million
12Bellin Memorial Hospital Inc$906.6 million
13Marquette University$840.0 million
14Community Care Inc$807.6 million
15Aspirus Wausau Hospital Inc$792.0 million

The fifteen largest with a filing on record. Organizations without one are counted above but have no figures to rank.

Largest by assets

2 more columns on a wider screen

Organizations in Wisconsin by assets
RankOrganizationAssets
1Aurora Health Care Inc$8.0 billion
2University of Wisconsin Foundation$6.3 billion
3Froedtert Thedacare Health Inc$5.8 billion
4The Medical College of Wisconsin Inc$3.5 billion
5Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin Inc$2.5 billion
6Marquette University$2.2 billion
7Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center Inc$2.2 billion
8Dairyland Power Cooperative$1.6 billion
9Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital Inc$1.5 billion
10Bellin Memorial Hospital Inc$1.2 billion

Book value at the end of the year, which is what all three forms report.

Highest reported compensation

2 more columns on a wider screen

Organizations in Wisconsin by reported compensation
RankOrganizationReported compensation
1Mercy Assisted Care Inc$16.3 million
2Mercy Harvard Hospital Inc$16.3 million
3Mercy Health System Corporation$16.3 million
4Aurora Health Care Inc$7.9 million
5University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation Inc$6.8 million
6Froedtert Thedacare Health Inc$5.3 million
7Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital Inc$5.2 million
8Thedacare Regional Medical Center- Appleton Inc$5.2 million
9Marquette University$4.5 million
10Aspirus Wausau Hospital Inc$4.2 million

The largest amount an organization here reported paying one person, as reported.

What they do

Organizations the IRS never classified do not appear here. A code is assigned at registration and rarely updated, so it describes what an organization said it would do.

Nearest by count

Wisconsin and the states either side of it by number of organizations
RankStateOrganizations
18Minnesota40,399
19Wisconsin39,461
20Tennessee39,235

Wisconsin elsewhere on the Factbook

  • Reported crime Crime and justice

    Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.

  • Most dangerous cities in Wisconsin Crime and justice

    What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.

  • Prison population Crime and justice

    People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.

  • Arrests by race, sex and age Crime and justice

    Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.

  • Hate crime Crime and justice

    Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.

  • Federal obligations Federal spending

    What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.

  • Payments to doctors Health

    What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.

  • Farm program payments Farm subsidies

    What the Farm Service Agency paid through the state’s county offices, by program and by recipient. The offices that administered the payments, not a count of farms: a recipient addressed elsewhere is counted where they were paid.

  • Paycheck Protection Program loans PPP loans

    The PPP loans SBA guaranteed to businesses operating in the state, by county, with how many carry a forgiveness amount and how many were charged off. Loans, not businesses: a business with two draws is two loans.

  • Population, age, income and origin Demographics

    The Census Bureau's population estimates year by year, with births, deaths and migration, and age, income, poverty, housing and origin from the American Community Survey, each with its margin of error.

  • Public schools Schools

    Pupils, schools and teachers, the largest districts, what districts spend per pupil and where the money comes from, and the colleges that take federal student aid.

  • Banks and credit unions Banks and credit unions

    The FDIC-insured banks headquartered in the state and their offices, and the credit unions based there and their sites, each per resident and against every other state.

  • Housing Housing

    The homes under HUD’s rental assistance programs in the state, by program and county, and its tax-credit housing, each per resident and against every other state.

  • Mortgage lending Mortgage lending

    The mortgage applications, loans and denials lenders reported in the state under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and its largest lenders and counties.

  • Cost of living Cost of living

    BEA’s price level for the state against the nation, for goods, rents, utilities and other services, and its metro areas beside it.

  • County health County health

    CDC’s model-based estimates of adult health, risk behaviors and prevention for every county in the state, each with its 95% interval.

  • College athletics Sports

    Every college in the state that reported to the Equity in Athletics survey, ranked by its athletics revenue, with its expenses, athletes and athletic aid.

  • Federal civilian workforce Federal salaries

    Federal civilian employees stationed in the state by agency and occupation, with the pay OPM publishes and the share it withholds.

  • The Wisconsin Factbook entry Across the Factbook

    Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.

The immigration hub has no page for this state: EOIR runs no immigration court here, and CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography. Immigration and the border.

Compared with Tennessee.

Full rankings: largest by revenue, largest by assets, largest grantmakers, and highest reported nonprofit pay. All organizations: nonprofits.

What this page cannot show

  • The state is the organization’s address of record with the IRS. A national charity registered here operates elsewhere too.
  • Churches need not apply for recognition, so they are under-represented, and the ones here are those that chose to apply.
  • Financial figures exist only for organizations with a Form 990 on record, and each describes whichever year that organization last reported.

Full method at methodology.

Sources

Compiled automatically from Exempt Organizations Business Master File and Form 990 series e-file data by a checked SQL query · Editor: Kian O'Connor · How this site is built

Data retrieved