Milwaukee is the largest city within the state of Wisconsin and 22nd-largest in the United States. The city is the county seat of Milwaukee County, located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, and is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Chicago. As of the 2004 U.S. Census estimate, Milwaukee had a population of 583,624. The city is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee–Waukesha–West Allis metropolitan area with a population of 1.5 million.

The first Europeans to pass through the area were French missionaries and traders. In 1818, Frenchman Solomon Juneau settled in the area, and in 1846 Juneau's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the City of Milwaukee. Large numbers of German and other immigrants helped increase the city's population during the 1840s and the following decades.

Milwaukee is known as "The City of Festivals" for its great number of ethnic and musical festivals, the largest of which is Summerfest. It has also been called "the nation's watering hole," having more bars per capita than any other large city in the country. Milwaukee residents are known as Milwaukeeans. Milwaukeeans often comment that Milwaukee feels like "a big small town."