Last updated: October 2026
Wisconsin’s thinnest county for bars per person still pours 68% more bars per resident than the national average. That county is Waukesha, and it is 407,290 people deep. Price County, at 63rd of 71, runs 2.9 times the national rate.
We run a tavern in Prentice, so we watch these counts the way other people watch the weather. This year we stopped comparing Price County to the rest of Wisconsin and compared the whole state to the rest of the country. The result reframes everything: the county that ranks near the bottom of Wisconsin would look crowded almost anywhere else in America.
Quick Answer: Wisconsin averages 4.62 bars per 10,000 residents from 2,716 licensed drinking places, against a national rate of 1.22 per 10,000 from 40,258 U.S. bars. Price County ranks 63rd of 71 at 3.55 per 10,000, which is 23% below the state average and still 2.9 times the national rate. Even Wisconsin’s thinnest county, Waukesha at 2.04 per 10,000, beats the national figure by 68%. Iron County leads the state at 24.45 per 10,000, about 20 times the national rate.
How Does Wisconsin Bar Density Compare to the National Average?
Wisconsin runs 3.8 times the national bar rate. The state has 2,716 drinking places for 5,882,128 residents, which works out to 4.62 per 10,000 people and 46.2 bars per 100,000. The country as a whole has 40,258 bars for 331,097,593 people, or 1.22 per 10,000 and 12.2 per 100,000.
That is not a rounding error. It is a 280% advantage in drinking places per resident, and it comes from a tavern culture that other states never built. We pulled both figures from the same source on the same day, the Census Bureau’s 2022 County Business Patterns for bar establishments and the 2022 American Community Survey five-year estimates for population. Same vintage, same method, no apples-to-oranges.
The National Bar Rate Has Never Been Wisconsin’s Standard
Nationally, there is one bar for every 8,224 people. In Wisconsin, there is one for every 2,166. In Price County, one for every 2,813.
Read those three numbers in order and the ranking story changes shape. Price County is the outlier inside Wisconsin and comfortably above the norm for the United States. Both things are true at once, and almost nobody writes about the second one.
State vs Price County: The Comparison Side by Side
Here is the comparison the search results usually skip. Wisconsin as a state versus Price County as a place, on the measures that actually describe drinking density.
| Measure | Wisconsin | Price County |
|---|---|---|
| Licensed drinking places (NAICS 722410) | 2,716 | 5 |
| Population (ACS 2022, 5-year) | 5,882,128 | 14,066 |
| Bars per 10,000 residents | 4.62 | 3.55 |
| Bars per 100,000 residents | 46.2 | 35.5 |
| People per bar | 2,166 | 2,813 |
| Rank among states and territories | 3rd of 52 | 63rd of 71 counties |
| Rank against the U.S. rate of 1.22 per 10,000 | 3.8x the country | 2.9x the country |
| Bar payroll behind the taps | $273,323,000 | about $107,000 |
| Bar employees | 16,883 | 16 |
The table hides the part that matters most to us. Price County’s five bars sit inside 1,254 square miles of land, per the Census Bureau’s 2023 Gazetteer. That is 250.8 square miles per bar, and a little under four-tenths of a bar for every 100 square miles.
On the state rank, the numbers also settle an argument. Montana tops the 2022 list at 4.96 bars per 10,000 and North Dakota is second at 4.93. Wisconsin is third, which is a notch below the first-place talk you hear around here, and still three times the country.
Where Wisconsin Wins the Comparison
Statewide, Wisconsin has depth. Milwaukee County alone holds 314 drinking places, Dane County 160, and Brown County 100. That volume supports distribution networks, bartender labor pools, and the kind of competition that keeps prices honest.
The state also has redundancy. If one tavern on a Milwaukee block closes, the block still pours. The average Wisconsin county can absorb a closure without losing its identity as a place to get a drink.
Where Price County Wins the Comparison
Five bars splitting 14,066 residents means each one keeps a loyal base that a big-city dive can only dream about. Regulars become family here. Nobody opens a second tavern across the street, because the math does not support it, and that protects the five that exist.
The land is the advantage. Our five bars serve a wide, thin radius that pulls customers off the Tuscobia spur in summer and off the snowmobile trails in January. On a July Saturday, the Ripsaw parking lot fills with machines and we pour for people who drove in from Wausau and Rhinelander. The official density number counts none of them. If you are planning a ride up this way, the Price County seasonal guides lay out what is open and when across the year.
What Does a 63rd-Place Ranking Actually Cost a County?
It costs fragility. One closure in a five-bar county removes 20% of the county’s licensed drinking capacity in a single afternoon, and a shuttered northwoods tavern rarely reopens. That has happened near us.
It also costs the county a fair national read. Price County sits at 63rd of 71, so it gets filed with the thin counties when journalists write about Wisconsin’s drinking map. Against the country as a whole, that same county is nearly three times denser than average. The rank is real. The reputation penalty is not.
The Part of the Comparison That Never Shows Up in a Table
Seasonal population is invisible to the Census. Five bars can feel like twenty at 3 PM on a July Saturday and like two at 9 AM on a Tuesday in March. The county’s year-round count of 14,066 residents is the denominator in every density figure here, and it is the wrong denominator for about four months of the year.
That mismatch is why local reputation and official data keep disagreeing, and it is why we stopped treating the 63rd-place rank as bad news. It measures the winter. It does not measure the summer.
How We Built This State vs National Comparison
Every figure above comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, pulled for this article rather than copied from a summary. Bar counts are 2022 County Business Patterns establishments under NAICS 722410, the code for drinking places licensed to sell alcohol for on-site consumption. Population figures are 2022 American Community Survey five-year estimates. The national bar and population totals come from the same two files, using the U.S. row instead of the Wisconsin row.
Two caveats belong in the record. County Business Patterns counts establishments with paid employees, so a tiny owner-operated tavern with no reported payroll can drop out of the total. And the 71 county totals sum to 2,715 bars against the state’s reported 2,716, a one-establishment gap from how the Census assigns unclassified locations. Menominee County reported no NAICS 722410 establishments, which is why the ranking covers 71 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
For the mechanics behind those counts, see our plain-English guide to how Wisconsin counts its bars and the full Wisconsin bar statistics page. The county-by-county ranking behind Price County’s 63rd-place finish is in our density breakdown for all 71 counties.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Price County below average for bars in Wisconsin?
Yes. At 3.55 bars per 10,000 residents, Price County ranks 63rd of 71 counties and runs 23% below the statewide average of 4.62. That is the honest local read.
How does Wisconsin bar density compare to the national average?
Wisconsin runs 4.62 bars per 10,000 residents against a national rate of 1.22, about 3.8 times the country. That is roughly 46 bars per 100,000 in Wisconsin versus 12 per 100,000 nationally.
Does any Wisconsin county fall below the national bar rate?
No. All 71 counties with reported drinking places sit above the U.S. rate of 1.22 per 10,000. Waukesha County is the state’s thinnest at 2.04, still 68% above the national figure.
How many bars are in Price County, and how far apart are they?
Five, across 1,254 square miles. That is one bar for every 250.8 square miles and about 0.4 bars per 100 square miles, with the five spread through Prentice, Phillips, Fifield and Park Falls.
Why does the northwoods feel denser than the numbers say?
Seasonal traffic. Five bars carry 14,066 year-round residents, then absorb ATV and snowmobile crowds from Wausau, Rhinelander and beyond all summer and all winter. The Census counts residents, not riders.
See also: our Price County bar crawl checklist for the driving distances between these five bars.
See also: ATV trails that lead right to Ripsaw Saloon
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — County Business Patterns 2022, NAICS 722410 (Drinking Places), Wisconsin counties and U.S. total
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 2022 5-Year Estimates, Table B01003 (Total Population), Wisconsin counties and U.S. total
- U.S. Census Bureau — 2023 Gazetteer County File (Price County land area, 1,254.057 square miles)