Shawano County, Wisconsin: County Profile

The City of Shawano is the county seat; the Shawano County Courthouse is at 311 N. Main St., Shawano, WI 54166.

The origin of the name Shawano (an Ojibwe word for 'southern' or a Menominee chief named Sawanoh) was not confirmed from a primary source this session.

Shawano County covers 893.225 square miles of land and 16.171 square miles of water.

The county states it has 581,967 acres of land and 14,615 acres of surface water.

Shawano County borders Brown, Langlade, Marathon, Menominee, Oconto, Outagamie, Portage, and Waupaca counties.

Shawano Lake covers more than 6,000 acres with 18 miles of shoreline.

The Wolf River runs through the City of Shawano, and Shawano Lake lies at the edge of city limits.

Shawano County has 8 parks and 6 recreation areas; Shawano County Park on Shawano Lake has 90 electric campsites.

The Shawano County Board has 27 supervisors representing 27 supervisory districts, elected in the spring nonpartisan election to two-year terms.

Thomas Kautza (District 26) chairs the Shawano County Board, and Randy Young (District 6) is vice chair.

The District 5 seat on the Shawano County Board was listed as vacant on September 19, 2026.

Stacey Cicero is the Shawano County Administrative Coordinator, accountable to the County Board for day-to-day operations.

Raymond Rigsby is the Shawano County Clerk (four-year term ending December 31, 2028).

George Lenzner is the Shawano County Sheriff (four-year term ending January 3, 2027).

Emily Kazik is the Shawano County Treasurer.

Amy Dillenburg is the Shawano County Register of Deeds.

Ethan Schmidt is the Shawano County Clerk of Circuit Court.

Brian Westfahl is the Shawano County Coroner.

Grant Bystol is the Shawano County Highway Commissioner.

Bruce Milavitz is Mayor of the City of Shawano.

Shawano and Menominee counties share one circuit court, the Menominee-Shawano Counties Circuit Court, with two branches at the Shawano County Courthouse.

Katie Sloma (Branch I, term ending July 31, 2027) and William F. Kussel, Jr. (Branch II, term ending July 31, 2030) are the Menominee-Shawano circuit judges.

District Attorney Gregory Parker serves both Menominee and Shawano counties.

Shawano and Menominee counties share a public health department, directed by Health Officer Nicholas Mau.

Shawano, Menominee, and Oconto counties and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community sit on the Aging and Disability Resource Center of the Wolf River Region's boards.

Menominee County borders Shawano County.

The Menominee Indian Reservation covers 235,523 acres (about 357.96 square miles) and shares nearly coterminous boundaries with Menominee County.

The Menominee Tribe's seat of government is in the Village of Keshena, about 45 miles northwest of Green Bay.

The Menominee Tribe states it has 8,551 tribal members; the same page elsewhere says over 8,700.

Menominee federal recognition was restored by the Menominee Restoration Act, Public Law 93-197, on December 22, 1973, after termination in the 1950s.

The College of Menominee Nation is located just north of Shawano.

The 1856 treaty signed by Sachem Ziba T. Peters established the Stockbridge-Munsee reservation in the Red Springs and Bartelme area of Shawano County.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community's tribal government is at N8476 MohHeConNuck Rd, Bowler, WI 54416.

Shannon Holsey is President of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community; Willy Miller is Vice-President and Crystal L. Malone is Treasurer.

In 1837, 250 Munsees from Canada joined the tribe, which has since been called Stockbridge-Munsee.

By 1830, 350 to 400 Mohicans were living at Kaukauna, Wisconsin.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community wrote a new tribal constitution in 1937 based on the Bureau of Indian Affairs model.

The Arvid E. Miller Library-Museum, founded in 1974, is the official repository for the Stockbridge-Munsee Community's archives, at N8510 MoHeConNuck Rd, Bowler.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community's enterprises include North Star Casino, Pine Hills Golf & Supper Club, Little Star C-Store, and Mohican LP.

The Lutheran Indian Mission in Gresham was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 22, 1980.

Shawano County has 25 towns: Almon, Angelica, Aniwa, Bartelme, Belle Plaine, Birnamwood, Fairbanks, Germania, Grant, Green Valley, Hartland, Herman, Hutchins, Lessor, Maple Grove, Morris, Navarino, Pella, Red Springs, Richmond, Seneca, Washington, Waukechon, Wescott, and Wittenberg.

Shawano County has 11 villages: Aniwa, Birnamwood, Bonduel, Bowler, Cecil, Eland, Gresham, Mattoon, Pulaski, Tigerton, and Wittenberg.

Shawano County has two cities, Shawano and Marion.

Shawano County has 3 sanitary districts and 13 school districts.

Marion, Pulaski, and Birnamwood extend beyond Shawano County; only 14 Marion residents and 220 Pulaski residents lived in the Shawano County parts in 2020.

Shawano County had a 2020 Census population of 40,881.

Shawano County's 2024 final population estimate was 41,109.

The Census Bureau estimated Shawano County's population at 41,299 as of July 1, 2024.

The City of Shawano had a 2020 Census population of 9,243 and a 2025 official estimate of 9,610.

The Town of Wescott, with 3,257 residents in both 2020 and the 2025 estimate, is Shawano County's most populous town.

The ACS 2019-2023 five-year estimate of Shawano County's population is 40,927.

Shawano County's median age is 45.5 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-0.2).

Shawano County's median household income is $67,032 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-$2,497).

The median value of owner-occupied housing in Shawano County is $179,100 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-$5,124).

Shawano County had 892 business establishments and 10,135 paid employees in 2023.

Manufacturing is Shawano County's largest employment sector, with 2,429 paid employees at 68 establishments in 2023.

Retail trade employed 1,499 people at 110 Shawano County establishments in 2023.

Health care and social assistance employed 1,494 people at 92 Shawano County establishments in 2023.

Accommodation and food services employed 1,431 people at 111 Shawano County establishments in 2023.

County Business Patterns counted 20 agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting establishments with 139 paid employees in Shawano County in 2023; CBP excludes most farm employment.

Shawano County Economic Progress, Inc. (SCEPI) is the county's economic development organization.

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College has a Regional Learning Center in Shawano.

The NCES 2023-24 public school geocode file lists 17 public schools in Shawano County, in Shawano (5), Bonduel (3), Gresham (2), Bowler (2), Tigerton (2), Wittenberg (2), and Birnamwood (1).

The Shawano County Library in Shawano has branches in Birnamwood, Bonduel, Mattoon, Tigerton, and Wittenberg.

Six Shawano County properties are on the National Register, including the Shawano Main Street Historic District (1999), the Shawano Post Office (2000), and Lincoln School (2013).

The City of Shawano has 24 parks.

Shawano County was created in 1853 from parts of Oconto and Outagamie counties.

The county was originally named Shawanaw County and kept that spelling until 1864.