The Concentration of Poverty in Milwaukee,
Other Cities, and Rural Areas
Poverty would be a serious problem for Milwaukee and Wisconsin even if the population below the poverty line were evenly distributed across the metropolitan area and the state. But it is not evenly distributed. It is concentrated—heavily concentrated—in the center of the City of Milwaukee, other urban centers (such as Racine, Kenosha, and Beloit), and certain rural areas.
Nowhere is poverty more dense, however, than in the heart of Milwaukee. Such concentrated poverty makes the lives of the poor even harder by further widening their distance from the social and economic mainstream. It shrinks the number of middle-class role models that children and young adults interact with—and get valuable help from—as they grow up and enter the labor market. Concentrated poverty also drives away important economic institutions, like grocery stores, clothing stores, and hardware stores, which provide both entry-level jobs and needed services. It depresses property values as well, making it harder for the poor to secure the loans they need to buy and fix up homes.
