New figures released last week by the Census Bureau show that an unacceptable number of Wisconsinites, including children, are living in poverty. Here are five charts drawn from the data that describe the number of Wisconsin residents who have incomes too low to meet basic needs. 

1. The recession has been over for years. But poverty rates in Wisconsin still remain above pre-recession levels.  

In past recessions, the poverty rate spiked and then decreased back to pre-recession levels once the crisis had passed. But after the recession that started in 2008, the pattern has been different, and poverty levels remain elevated even many years later.

In 2017, 11.3% of the people in Wisconsin lived in poverty. That is below the recent high of 13.5% of Wisconsin residents living in poverty in 2013, but still above the 2008 level of 10.4%. For a family of four, living in poverty represents having an income of below about $28,000.

The number of Wisconsin residents living in poverty is also higher in 2017 than it was in 2008. In 2017, about 640,000 people in Wisconsin lived in poverty, compared to about 570,000 in 2008 – an increase of about 70,000 people living in poverty.

2. Children are the poorest segment of our population.

Children are more likely than other Wisconsin residents to live in poverty. About 1 out of every 7 children lived in poverty in 2017, compared to 1 out of every 9 people in the population as a whole. About 182,000 children in Wisconsin live in poverty – enough kids to fill Lambeau Field more than two times.

3. Most Wisconsin residents in poverty have graduated from high school, live outside of Milwaukee County, and are white. Roughly half of them worked, and a significant share of them lived in extreme poverty. More than one-quarter of Wisconsin residents in poverty are children.

4. Many Wisconsin families of color are blocked from achieving their full economic potential.

Wisconsin residents of color are far more likely to live in poverty than White non-Hispanic residents. African Americans and American Indians in Wisconsin are about three times as likely as Whites to live in poverty. Hispanics and Asian residents are about twice as likely as Whites to live in poverty.

5. Incomes are lower for many households of color in Wisconsin that for white ones. For example, African American households in Wisconsin had an average household income in 2017 that was just 47% of the household income for Whites, a gap that hasn’t closed at all over the past decade. American Indian and Hispanic households also have incomes significantly lower than White households.

It’s well past time that Wisconsin’s leaders prioritize reducing poverty. For more information on the role you can play in reducing the number of children and families experiencing poverty in Wisconsin visit https://www.endchildpovertywi.org.

Tamarine Cornelius