How Much Does Jury Duty Pay in Wisconsin? There Is No Single State Rate

How much does jury duty pay in Wisconsin? There is no single state rate, and anyone who gives you one number without naming a county is guessing. Wisconsin state law sets a floor: every juror summoned is paid an amount set by the county board, not less than $16 per day, for each day of attendance, plus travel reimbursement. Each county then sets its own rate above that floor, and the rates vary widely. That county-by-county setup is the whole story, and it explains why a juror in Milwaukee and a juror in Sauk County can serve the same week and take home very different checks.

Here are the county rates that published court pages currently show, and the spread is the point. Milwaukee County pays $8 per half day session, $16 for a full day of two sessions, plus a $9 daily travel allowance, for a full-day total of $25. Trempealeau County pays $10 per half day and $20 per full day, plus $0.51 per mile round trip. Juneau County pays $12 per half day and $30 per full day, plus $0.51 per mile. Portage County pays $17.50 per half day and $35 per full day, plus mileage and a $4 meal allowance for a full day. Sauk County pays $40 per day, whether you serve one hour or ten, plus mileage at the statutory rate. Same state, same duty, and the daily pay doubles from Trempealeau to Sauk.

How much does jury duty pay in Wisconsin: why counties differ

Counties set juror pay because counties run the courts and pay the jurors from county budgets, within the state floor. A county board weighs its budget against the need to get people to show up, and rural counties with long drives may lean on mileage while urban counties lean on a daily rate plus a travel allowance. Milwaukee's structure shows the logic clearly: it pays per session, morning and afternoon, plus a flat $9 travel allowance, so a half-day juror gets $17 and a full-day juror gets $25. Portage adds a small meal allowance for full days. Sauk simplifies everything into a flat $40 calendar day. None of these counties is breaking the rules. They are all exercising the discretion the state gave them.

Federal court is a different system with a different rate, and it is worth separating out before you budget. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin pays $50 for each day or part of a day, plus mileage at the federal rate and $8.25 toward parking per day. If your summons comes from a federal court, you get the federal rate. If it comes from a county circuit court, you get that county's rate. Check the summons itself: the court name on it tells you which system you are in, and guessing wrong can throw your budget off by $25 a day or more.

Now the practical question everyone actually asks: what will a week of service cost you? Take a Portage County juror serving 5 full days. At $35 a day, that is $175, plus mileage for the round trip each day and a $4 daily meal allowance, roughly $195 before mileage. The same 5 days in Trempealeau County pay $100 plus mileage. In Sauk County, $200 plus mileage. None of these replaces a normal paycheck, and that is why Wisconsin law also protects your job: your employer cannot fire, demote, or threaten you because of jury service. Whether your employer pays you during service is a separate question, and it depends on your employer's policy, not on the court. Some employers pay full wages, some pay the difference, and some pay nothing, so check your handbook before your service week, not during it.

Payment timing varies too, so do not count on the check arriving with your next paycheck. Milwaukee County mails checks within 30 days of the end of service, and makes no deductions and issues no W-2 for juror pay. Portage County pays roughly in the second week of the month after service. Juneau County provides a form letter for your employer showing days served and amounts paid, which is useful if your employer tops up your pay. Keep your summons and any attendance record until the check arrives, because that paper is your proof if a payment goes missing.

The practical move is simple and county-specific. Find your county's jury page before your service date, write down its daily rate, its half-day rule, and its mileage rate, and run the week on those numbers, not on a statewide average that does not exist. If you are summoned in a county paying $20 a day and you expected $40, that gap is real, and it is better to know it a week early than to discover it when the check arrives. Wisconsin's system is not broken. It is local, and local means you have to look up your county.

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