While poverty rates in Wisconsin have fallen from their latest peak during the Great Recession, they haven’t rebounded to the lows seen about a decade before that.
That’s according to a recent report from UW-Madison’s Division of Extension, written by Prof. Steven Deller, an economist and professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. He notes poverty often gets less attention in policy discussions than other measures of economic performance such as income levels and employment.
“From the perspective of broader economic trends, the change in the poverty rate over time can provide powerful insights,” he wrote.
His analysis focuses on the period from 1993 to 2021, comparing poverty in Wisconsin with rates for Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota. Wisconsin’s rate “most closely tracks” that of Iowa during that period, while the state consistently has lower poverty rates than Illinois or Michigan and higher rates than Minnesota.
The trend across the Midwest region has been fairly consistent, with a general decline in poverty through the 1990s followed by a steady increase from around 2000 to 2011-2013, when each state reached its peak poverty level.
After reaching a peak above 13% near 2013, Wisconsin’s poverty rate was on a steady decline until 2020, when it was near 10%. In the final year included in the report, poverty rates across all five states rose sharply due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deller notes Wisconsin has lagged behind neighboring states in recovering from the Great Recession, and its poverty rate hasn’t returned to its low of 8.1% in 2000 and 2002.
Suburban counties within larger metropolitan areas had the lowest poverty rates, Deller found. These include Ozaukee with 4.7%, Waukesha with 5%, Washington with 5.3% and St. Croix with 5.4%.
By comparison, counties with the highest poverty rates include Menominee with 24.2%, Milwaukee with 17.8%, Adams with 15.2% and Vernon with 15.2%.
“Studying poverty rates can help policymakers not only better understand economic performance but also help steer limited economic growth and development resources,” Deller wrote.
See the full report: https://economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu/2023/10/12/exploring-poverty-as-a-crucial-economic-performance-measure/
–By Alex Moe
