Menominee County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,255, making it the least populous county in Wisconsin. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is in the community of Keshena. Menominee is Wisconsin's newest county, having been created in 1959 after recognition of the Menominee tribe was terminated by federal law. In 1974, the tribe regained federal recognition and restoration of most of its reservation. Today Menominee County is essentially coterminous with the boundaries of the federally recognized Menominee Indian Reservation. Menominee County is included in the Shawano, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Green Bay-Shawano, WI Combined Statistical Area.

History

The county was created from the northeastern portion of 7 townships of Shawano County and the Western 3 townships of Oconto County on July 3, 1959, in anticipation of the termination of the Menominee Indian Reservation in 1961. The reservation status was restored in 1973, and is now co-extensive with the county. Most of the land within the county boundary is under Federal trust for the exclusive use by enrolled members of the Menominee nation. Scattered parcels that were purchased during termination, as well as many lots around the Legend Lake area in the southeastern part of the county, are the only parts of the county that are privately owned by non-Native Americans. Most of Menominee County's population consists of members of the

Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...

nation. Menomonee County is the only county in Wisconsin that is designated as a "persistent poverty" county, meaning that its poverty rate was at least 20% in four measurements since 1990.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.0%) is water. It is the second-smallest county in Wisconsin by total area.

Adjacent counties

* Oconto County – east * Shawano County – south * Langlade County – northwest

Major highways

* Highway 47 (Wisconsin) * Highway 55 (Wisconsin)

Buses

Demographics

2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,255 people, 1,400 households, and 1,064 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,145 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county (including Hispanics and Latinos) was 85.6% Native American, 11.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.1% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 3.2%

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race.

2000 census

At the 2000 census there were 4,562 people, 1,345 households, and 1,065 families in the county. This total makes it the least-populated county in the state. The population density was . There were 2,098 housing units at an average density of . The racial makup of the county was 11.57%

, 0.07%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 87.26% Native American, 0.02%

, 0.33% from other races, and 0.75% from two or more races. 2.67%. were

or Latino of any race. 5.0% were of German ancestry. 89.8% spoke English, 7.0%

and 1.6% Hmong as their first language. At over 80% of the county's population, Menominee County has the highest percentage of Native Americans in the state of Wisconsin by far. Of the 1,345 households 42.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.50% were married couples living together, 26.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.80% were non-families. 16.50% of households were one person and 6.40% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.35 and the average family size was 3.66. The age distribution was 38.90% under the age of 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 24.70% from 25 to 44, 19.50% from 45 to 64, and 8.50% 65 or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.30 males. In 2017, there were 89 births, giving a general fertility rate of 115.9 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.

Politics

Menominee County has always been a Democratic stronghold. In every election since its creation, Menominee has been the most Democratic-leaning county in Wisconsin. No Republican has ever won even 40% of the county's vote in its history. It is one of only four counties in the entire nation that has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate, the others being

Jim Hogg James Stephen Hogg (March 24, 1851March 3, 1906) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as the List of Governors of Texas, 20th governor of Texas from 1891 to 1895. He was born near Rusk, Texas. Hogg was a follower of the conservativi ...

and Brooks counties in South Texas and Kalawao County, Hawaii.