POVERTY UP IN WISCONSIN
Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 -- 2:18 PM
Poverty is on the rise in Wisconsin. New estimates from the U-S Census Bureau show eleven percent of people in Wisconsin lived in poverty in 2003-2004 -- up nearly two percent from the year before. The federal government lists the poverty threshold for a family of four at just over 19-thousand dollars. About 570-thousand Wisconsinites lived below the poverty level last year. The state's latest poverty rate is the highest since 1993-1994. In the state's largest city, the poverty rate is 26 percent. That puts Milwaukee seventh in the country among major cities. Nationally, the U-S poverty rate rose for the fourth straight year -- from 12 and a-half percent to 12-point-seven percent.Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.