9 Things Minnesota Does Better That Wisconsinites Won't Admit

Minnesota’s highway system ranks 11th in the country for cost-effectiveness and pavement condition in the Reason Foundation’s newest report.

Wisconsin’s ranks 31st.

A Wisconsinite will tell you the gap is in the measuring.

These are the things Minnesota does better that Wisconsinites won’t admit.

Note: This is general information, not legal or tax advice. State laws, tax credit amounts, and program rules are subject to change.

More Fortune 500 Headquarters

Minnesota packs 18 Fortune 500 headquarters into a state with fewer residents than Wisconsin.

Wisconsin can claim eight.

UnitedHealth Group, Target, Best Buy, 3M, General Mills, and U.S. Bancorp all run their headquarters out of the Twin Cities.

Minnesota added its newest member this year, when APi Group, a New Brighton fire-safety company, joined the list on its 100th anniversary.

Wisconsin’s eight companies include Northwestern Mutual, Kohl’s, and Oshkosh Corp, solid names that don’t change the math.

Minnesota keeps adding more of them.

Roads That Hold Up

A 20-spot gap separates Minnesota’s highways from Wisconsin’s in the Reason Foundation’s newest report on state highway systems.

Minnesota sits 11th.

Wisconsin lands at 31st.

The gap comes down to spending per mile, bridge condition, and how much pavement each state lets wear down before fixing it.

Minnesota spends more per mile on upkeep, and it shows on the pavement the moment a tire crosses the border.

Ask a Wisconsin driver about the stretch of I-94 near the state line, and watch the wince.

A Skyway System on a Different Scale

Minneapolis threaded a network of enclosed, heated skyways above its downtown streets, and no Wisconsin city has built anything close to it.

The skyways link roughly 80 city blocks across more than 10 miles of second-story walkways, according to Meet Minneapolis, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

Milwaukee has a downtown skywalk too.

It runs 1.75 miles, under a fifth of the distance Minneapolis covers.

A Minneapolis office worker can grab lunch, hit the pharmacy, and get back to a desk without ever pulling on a coat in January.

Milwaukee’s winters get just as brutal, and its much smaller network still leaves much of downtown out in them.

Free School Meals for Every Kid

Every Minnesota public school student eats breakfast and lunch free, no application required, under a 2023 state law.

Wisconsin doesn’t.

A Wisconsin family of four has to earn $42,900 a year or less to qualify for free meals in 2026.

Anything above that income line means paying full price or a reduced fee.

Minnesota’s law skips the paperwork and the income cutoff entirely.

Every kid eats the same lunch line, rich or broke.

Friendlier Roads for Cyclists

Which state would you guess pedals harder for cyclists, Minnesota or Wisconsin?

Minnesota does.

Minnesota ranks 5th nationally as a Bicycle Friendly State, according to the League of American Bicyclists.

Wisconsin ranks 27th.

The league scores every state on cyclist-friendly laws, trail infrastructure, and how many communities and businesses earn certification through the program.

Minnesota outscores Wisconsin in nearly every category the league tracks, from road laws to trail miles.

Twenty-two spots is a wide gap for two states that share a border.

Paid Family Leave

Minnesota workers can now take paid time off to care for a new baby, a sick parent, or a serious illness.

The benefit runs through a state-run insurance program that started January 1, 2026.

Wisconsin workers can’t.

Minnesota’s program covers up to 12 weeks of family leave and up to 12 weeks of medical leave in a year, capped at 20 combined weeks.

Wisconsin has no state paid leave program, so workers there depend entirely on what an employer chooses to offer.

Not every employer does.

How Minnesota Pays for Paid Leave

Minnesota funds Paid Leave through a payroll tax, not general tax dollars.

Employers generally pay 0.88% of payroll toward the program, and state rules require them to cover at least half of that themselves.

Smaller employers pay a lower combined rate, closer to 0.66%, and their workers can end up covering nearly half of it out of their paycheck.

A Bigger Child Tax Credit

Two kids in a Minnesota household can bring home up to $3,500 a year from a tax credit that doesn’t exist in Wisconsin.

Minnesota pays parents up to $1,750 per child through a refundable state tax credit, the largest of its kind in the country.

The next-largest state credits, in Vermont and Utah, top out at $1,000.

Minnesota’s credit begins phasing out above $31,950 for single filers and $37,910 for joint filers, and it covers kids up to age 18.

Wisconsin instead offers a smaller dependent exemption and a nonrefundable child care credit, neither of which sends a family a check.

State analysts project Minnesota’s credit will cut child poverty in the state by roughly a third.

A Clean Energy Deadline

By 2040, Minnesota law requires every utility in the state to run on 100% carbon-free electricity.

Wisconsin’s equivalent deadline? It doesn’t exist.

Minnesota’s law, passed in 2023, sets interim targets too: The state’s biggest investor-owned utilities have to hit 80% carbon-free power by 2030.

Smaller co-ops and municipal utilities get a lower 60% target on the same clock.

Both groups reach 90% carbon-free power by 2035, with nuclear, hydropower, and long-duration storage all counting toward the goal.

Wisconsin’s renewable standard still sits at only 10% of electricity, a target the state set back in 1999 for the year 2015.

That deadline came and went more than a decade ago, and nobody in Madison replaced it.

Psst! How much do you know about Minnesota and Wisconsin trivia? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.

Quiz

Minnesota vs. Wisconsin IQ

Answer these questions on Minnesota and Wisconsin trivia. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?

Question 1 of 9

Minnesota calls itself the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and Wisconsin claims an even bigger count. Which state has more lakes?

Light Rail Wisconsin Never Built

Since 2004, Minneapolis and St. Paul commuters have had a light rail option that no Wisconsin city offers.

The Blue Line opened that year as a 12-mile route with 19 stations.

How many light rail miles does Wisconsin have? Zero.

The Twin Cities added a second line, the Green Line, in 2014, connecting downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul.

Milwaukee's closest equivalent is The Hop, a free streetcar that covers 2.1 miles downtown.

Its expansion has stalled for years over a lack of state and federal funding, and Republican legislative leaders have blocked the state from chipping in.