Poverty in Wisconsin Hit Highest Level in 30 Years
Thursday, February 25th, 2016 -- 8:15 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -Poverty in Wisconsin hit its highest level in 30 years during a five-year period that ended in 2014, according to a new analysis by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Applied Population Laboratory.The report compared U.S. Census Bureau data from 2005-09 to numbers from 2010-14 and found that the number of state residents living in poverty hit 13 percent during the five years ending in 2014 - the highest rate since 1984. During the most recent five-year span, poverty increased significantly in 31 of 72 Wisconsin counties, including 11 of the 15 most populous counties. Estimates show that about 738,000 Wisconsin residents were living in poverty, compared to 605,000 in the previous five-year period.
The uptick was also reflected in the number of Wisconsin children touched by poverty. The analysis showed 18.5 percent of children in Wisconsin, or about 239,000 statewide, were living in poverty - up from 14.6 percent in 2005-09. Only 10 states had faster rates of increase in child poverty than Wisconsin, according to the lab's analysis. Poverty rates were also up across every level of educational achievement during the five-year period.
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