Guide
Overview
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is Wisconsin's largest newspaper by circulation and the main paper for the Milwaukee County courts, and the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison covers the Capitol and the state courts. The Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Post-Crescent in Appleton, the Journal Times in Racine, the Kenosha News, the La Crosse Tribune, the Leader-Telegram in Eau Claire, the Wausau Daily Herald, the Oshkosh Northwestern, the Sheboygan Press and the Janesville Gazette cover their regions, and the Wisconsin Examiner and Wisconsin Watch cover state government online. The Capital Times in Madison publishes online and as a weekly.
Wisconsin newspapers carry the legal notices state law requires for sheriff's sales, estates and government proceedings, publish obituaries for 72 counties, and hold court coverage that pairs with the free Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Wisconsin Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for Wisconsin. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major Wisconsin newspapers and what they cover
The Journal Sentinel covers Milwaukee, the federal court and, through its Madison bureau, state government and the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with back issues from the 1830s onward in the digital archives and multiple Pulitzers. The State Journal covers Madison, Dane County and the University of Wisconsin. The Press-Gazette covers Green Bay and the Fox Valley with the Post-Crescent, the Journal Times and the Kenosha News cover the lakeshore counties, and the Leader-Telegram covers the Chippewa Valley. Wisconsin's county weeklies, from the Vilas County News-Review to the Dodgeville Chronicle, carry county board proceedings, sheriff's reports and circuit court notices in full.
Guide
Historic Wisconsin newspapers online
The Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison holds the largest newspaper collection in the state with nearly every Wisconsin title on microfilm, and it offers free digitized Wisconsin newspapers through its website and contributes to Chronicling America. The Milwaukee Public Library provides free access to the Journal Sentinel archive with a library card and keeps a Milwaukee newspaper index, and the Madison Public Library does the same for the State Journal.
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in Wisconsin
Wisconsin law requires sheriff's sale notices for foreclosures, probate notices to creditors, name changes, tax deed notices and county board, city council and school board proceedings to be published in the official newspaper of the county or municipality, and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association collects them in a statewide search. Most papers in Wisconsin, daily and weekly, carry obituaries, and the Milwaukee and Madison libraries keep obituary indexes. Court coverage pairs with Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, the statewide case search.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
Wisconsin Newspaper Directory, questions
What is Wisconsin's largest newspaper by circulation?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, followed by the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the Post-Crescent in Appleton and the Journal Times in Racine.
Where are historic Wisconsin newspapers online?
The Wisconsin Historical Society offers free digitized titles and holds nearly every Wisconsin newspaper on microfilm, and Chronicling America adds more.
Where are Wisconsin sheriff's sale notices published?
In the official newspaper of the county, collected in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association's statewide public notice search.