The number of children living in poverty rose dramatically in Wisconsin in 2010, according to new figures released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2010, a quarter of a million Wisconsin children lived below the poverty line, about 36,000 more than in 2009.

Unfortunately, the increase in child poverty in Wisconsin is nothing new. It’s part of a troubling longer-term trend dating back to 2008. Between 2008 to 2010, Wisconsin’s child poverty rate rose from 13.3 percent to 19.1 percent. The number of children living in poverty increased by 43 percent between 2008 and 2010. The chart below shows the significant increase in the number of children in poverty in recent years.

Wisconsin’s child poverty rate remains below the national rate (19.1 percent vs 21.6 percent), but child poverty is growing considerably faster in Wisconsin than in the nation as a whole. In 2008, Wisconsin had the 12th lowest rate for the number of children in poverty. Just two years later, Wisconsin’s ranking has slid to 24th, putting us squarely in the middle of the states, and far behind our neighbor Minnesota, which had the 10th lowest rate of child poverty in 2010.

In Wisconsin, there is substantial regional variation in the proportion of children living in poverty. Across the state, slightly less than one out of every five children in Wisconsin lived in poverty in 2010. But in Milwaukee County, more than one out of three children lived in poverty. That’s much higher than the child poverty rate in wealthier counties like Ozaukee County, where only one out of twenty children lived in poverty.

Unfortunately, we’re not likely to see a dramatic turnaround in recent child poverty trends in the near future. The economy is still stuck in neutral, the recent pace of job creation has been – at best – anemic, and recent policy decisions at the state level have exacerbated the effect of the recession for families and children.

Keep tuned as we post additional analysis of new Census Bureau figures for Wisconsin, and address recent trends in overall poverty, household income, and health insurance coverage.

Tamarine Cornelius