Poverty In Milwaukee

Header Photo: Tetiana. "Inequality and Poverty Were Destroying America Well Before Covid-19."

Professor and founding director of UW-Milwaukee's Center for Economic Development, Marc V. Levine, researched the State of Black Milwaukee from a National Perspective. Professor Levine did this study to provide a comparative base, "by examining how Black communities in the nation's 50 largest metropolitan areas and how they fare on measures such as residential segregation; income, poverty, and intergenerational economic mobility; employment and earnings; the racial composition of private-sector economic decision-makers; mass incarceration; educational attainment; school segregation; and health care outcomes" (Levine, 2). When retrieving and comparing the data, Professor Levine found that Milwaukee, on all key elements, had ranked at or near the bottom when ranked against other large metropolitan areas. When looking into historical trends, he found that "Black Milwaukee is generally worse off today than it was 40 or 50 years ago" (Levine, 2).

Photo Citation: Center for Economic Development, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.

Some of Professor Levine's Key Findings that Relate Back To Milwaukee's High Poverty Levels

1. "Only two-thirds of Black males between the ages of 25-54 (prime working-age adults) were employed in Milwaukee in 2016-18, the 3rd lowest rate among large metros. (By contrast, 85 percent of prime-age Black males were employed in Milwaukee in 1970). The Black-white gap in male employment rates in Milwaukee is the second largest in the country (only Buffalo’s iS higher)" (Levine, 3).

2. "The median annual earnings for Black male and female workers in Milwaukee, even adjusted to take into account Milwaukee’s relatively low cost of living, nonetheless are still among the lowest for Blacks in the nation’s large metros. In addition, the median Black male worker in Milwaukee makes only 59.7 percent of a white worker’s earnings, the worst racial disparity in the U.S. Only 17.4 percent of Black males, and only 14.6 percent of Black females in Milwaukee make more than $40,000 a year (compared to 46.3 percent of white males)" (Levine, 3).

3. "The ability of low-income Black youth to climb the economic ladder in Milwaukee is among the most truncated in the country. A Black child born into a 3 low-income household in Milwaukee in the late 1970s or early 1980s has estimated household income in early adulthood about 11 percent less than his/her low-income counterpart born and raised in Baltimore and over 40 percent less than his/her counterpart born and raised in Boston. Moreover, the racial gap in the ability of low-income youth to climb the economic ladder is wider in Milwaukee than all but three other metro areas (Pittsburgh, Chicago, and New York). A child born into a low-income Black household in Milwaukee has estimated young adult income 80 percent lower than his/her white counterpart" (Levine, 2-3).

Graph's Citation: Found on University of Wisconsin Madison News site in research article;“Study Finds Wisconsin's African American Poverty Rate Three to Four Times Higher than White Poverty Rate.”

The devastating rates of poverty in Milwaukee are analyzed by Samuel Stebbins, the assistant managing editor of 24/7 Wall St. and data journalist, and Evan Comen, a research analyst for 24/7 Wall St., who break down the worst cities for Black Americans to live in. They had posted their findings on 24/7 Wall St, a financial website, and had based their statistics on population, median income, unemployment, and homeownership rates. Milwaukee had ranked number two on their list with these statistics.

> Black population: 260,776 (16.6%)
> Black median income: $27,834 (42.5% of white income)
> Unemployment: 16.1% black; 4.2% white
> Homeownership rate: 28.2% black; 69.5% white (“The Worst Cities for Black Americans").

They believe some of these statistics, similar to those of other Midwest counties, could be impacted by enacted restrictive housing covenants that remain in effect today (“The Worst Cities for Black Americans"). They also stated how segregation can have an impact on income inequality, which is why an average Black household makes up only 42.5% of a white household (“The Worst Cities for Black Americans").

There is as well a striking difference in poverty levels amongst those who are white and Black living in Milwaukee County. The white poverty rate in Milwaukee is 7.6%, making it one of the lowest in the country, however, there is almost a 30% difference between Black and white poverty levels in Milwaukee (“The Worst Cities for Black Americans"). The Black poverty rate is 36.4%, making it one of the largest in the country (“The Worst Cities for Black Americans").

Graph Citation: Found on US Welfare System site under poverty s “Poverty in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”