South Milwaukee, Wisconsin
17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1891 and the latest in 1980. It stands in South Milwaukee City. It lies in ZIP code area 53172. It stands on Oak Creek. The Survey maps it on the South Milwaukee quadrangle. 20,795 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 669 feet above sea level.
On record in South Milwaukee
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 4 records
Oak Creek Parkwaylisted 2011
South Milwaukee Passenger Stationlisted 1978
South Milwaukee Post Officelisted 2000- Lawson Airplane Company-Continental Faience and Tile Companylisted 2001
Population over time
2 figuresSouth Milwaukee fell from 21,156 to 20,795 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 21,156 | |
| 2020 | 20,795 | -361 (-2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 17 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1891 USGS Bayview quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1901 USGS Bayview quadrangle1:62500, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS Racine quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS South Milwaukee quadrangle1:24000, 4 printings
- 1958 USGS South Milwaukee quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Racine quadrangle1:250000
- 1980 USGS Racine quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
14 since 2018Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of South Milwaukee between 2018 and 2020, burning about 8 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2020 | Natural | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1778160 |
| 5 August 2018 | Smoking | 1.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1383 |
| 18 August 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 2001474 |
| 9 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 2317 |
| 29 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1343 |
| 3 June 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 2000944 |
| 27 May 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 1391 |
| 29 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources | 764 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of South Milwaukee: 1 unknown, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Michigan Sand Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Own Crews | Stone | Unknown |
Storms near this place
12 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Milwaukee in 12 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 7 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning, 1 funnel cloud. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1997 | Lightning | South Milwaukee | $20,400 | Lightning struck an antenna and traveled into garage, setting fire to two cars, a truck camper, motorcycle and other things in the garage. |
| June 2005 | Hail | South Milwaukee | $20,000 | Hail dented cars and siding, and broke a patio glass table top along with a window. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | South Milwaukee | $12,000 | Numerous trees and tree limbs down at Grant Park. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | South Milwaukee | $10,000 | Numerous trees and branches down. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | South Milwaukee | $1,000 | A rotted 2-3 foot diameter tree snapped at its base. |
| May 2024 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | Photo provided on Facebook. |
| May 2024 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | Photo provided on Facebook. |
| April 2006 | Funnel Cloud | South Milwaukee | - | A trained spotter reported a cold air funnel cloud at the intersection of Highway 32 and Drexel. |
| May 2024 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Hail | South Milwaukee | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Creek | 1.7 miles | 17 | |
| Carrollville | 2.1 miles | 17 | |
| Cudahy | 3.4 miles | 17 | |
| Saint Francis | 4.0 miles | 16 | |
| Oakwood | 5.0 miles | 17 | |
| Greendale | 7.5 miles | 16 | |
| Greenfield | 8.8 miles | 18 | |
| Milwaukee | 9.2 miles | 18 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on South Milwaukee | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1023550 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1574469. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






