Wisconsin brings to mind images of Madison, beautiful landscapes, and some of the best people you’ll find in the good ole US of A.
However, like all states, Wisconsin has certain places that are going on hard times. These Wisconsin places have an above average percent of people that are living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
With all the talk about income inequality going on around the country, we thought it prudent to take a look at the places in each state that are struggling to make it even as the economy continues to improve. So we set our sites on bringing attention to the poorest places in Wisconsin.
To do so, we analyzed the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 143 places in Wisconsin with more than 5,000 people.
Here are the ten poorest places in Wisconsin for 2023:
Again, this isn’t a commentary on the people that live there or the vibrant culture and traditions of these places. Instead, it’s just a look at the facts.
What’s the poorst city in Wisconsin? According to the facts, Antigo is the poorest place in Wisconsin for 2023.
To see how we calculated the top ten, and for more information about these places, read on.
For more Wisconsin reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Wisconsin
- Cheapest Places To Live In Wisconsin
- Most Dangerous Cities In Wisconsin
- The poorest states in the US
- The poorest cities in the US
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Poorest Cities In Wisconsin For 2023
1. Antigo
Antigo, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Wisconsin thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 8,054 people averages the 4th lowest median household income in Wisconsin and the 6th highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
/10
Population: 8,054
Rank Last Year: 3 (Up 2)
Median Income: $45,041 (4th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 8.5% (2nd highest)
Poverty Rate: 20.5% (6th highest)
More on Antigo:
2. Milwaukee
The second poorest city in Wisconsin is Milwaukee.
The city ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty and 5th lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 10th highest in the Badger State.
/10
Population: 578,198
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Income: $45,318 (5th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.2% (10th highest)
Poverty Rate: 24.1% (3rd highest)
More on Milwaukee:
3. Whitewater
Placing as the third poorest city, Whitewater’s median income ranks as the lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 33.56202484702392% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Badger State.
/10
Population: 14,369
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 3)
Median Income: $39,172 (lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 4.7% (27th highest)
Poverty Rate: 33.6% (highest)
More on Whitewater:
4. Wisconsin Rapids
Wisconsin Rapids ranks as the fourth poorest place in Wisconsin.
The town ranks as having the 6th lowest median household income and the 20th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
/10
Population: 18,711
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 5)
Median Income: $46,644 (6th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 6.5% (7th highest)
Poverty Rate: 15.8% (20th highest)
More on Wisconsin Rapids:
5. Racine
The fifth poorest city in Wisconsin is Racine.
The city ranks as having the 12th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 8th highest in Wisconsin.
Still not the best news for Racine.
/10
Population: 77,705
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 3)
Median Income: $48,238 (12th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.8% (14th highest)
Poverty Rate: 19.8% (8th highest)
More on Racine:
6. Rice Lake
Rice Lake ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Badger State.
It ranks as having the 9th highest incidence of poverty and the 24th highest unemployment rate.
/10
Population: 8,851
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Median Income: $41,505 (2nd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.0% (24th highest)
Poverty Rate: 19.5% (9th highest)
More on Rice Lake:
7. Ashland
Ashland places as the seventh poorest city in Wisconsin.
The city of over 7,890 ranks as having the 4th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
/10
Population: 7,890
Rank Last Year: 1 (Down 6)
Median Income: $50,053 (17th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.7% (15th highest)
Poverty Rate: 22.4% (4th highest)
More on Ashland:
8. Beloit
Beloit ranks as the eighth poorest city in Wisconsin.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as the 6th highest in the state.
/10
Population: 36,567
Rank Last Year: 5 (Down 3)
Median Income: $52,097 (23rd lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 7.0% (6th highest)
Poverty Rate: 17.7% (11th highest)
More on Beloit:
9. Stevens Point
Stevens Point couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Wisconsin; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 16th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Stevens Point ranks as having the 10th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Wisconsin.
/10
Population: 25,752
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 1)
Median Income: $49,712 (16th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.5% (18th highest)
Poverty Rate: 17.9% (10th highest)
More on Stevens Point:
10. Merrill
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Wisconsin is Merrill.
The city of 9,344 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Badger State.
/10
Population: 9,344
Rank Last Year: 18 (Up 8)
Median Income: $46,973 (8th lowest)
Unemployment Rate: 5.5% (16th highest)
Poverty Rate: 13.7% (27th highest)
More on Merrill:
Methodology: How We Determined The Poorest Places In Wisconsin for 2023
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we looked at this set of criteria from the newly released 2017-2021 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income adjusted for the cost of living
- Unemployment Rate
The “median household income adjusted for the cost of living” attempts to gauge how expensive it is to live in a place and how that impacts the quality of life. For example, a town might have fewer people living below the official poverty line, but the cost of living is so high they’d still feel poor.
The unemployment rate tries to capture the prospects for improvement in the city or town. If more people are employed, the brighter the future looks and vice versa.
After we collected the data for all 143 places with more than 5,000 people in Wisconsin, we ranked each place from 1 to 143 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Antigo, crowned the “Poorest Place In Wisconsin For 2023”.
This report has been updated for 2023, which is our tenth time ranking the poorest places in Wisconsin.
Summary: The Poorest Places In Wisconsin For 2023
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Wisconsin, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Wisconsin.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there.
If you’re curious enough, here are the richest cities in Wisconsin, according to data:
-
Richest: Richfield
2nd Richest: Fox Point
3rd Richest: Hobart
For more Wisconsin reading, check out:
- Richest Cities In Wisconsin
- Safest Places In Wisconsin
- Worst Places To Live In Wisconsin
- Most Expensive Places To Live In Wisconsin
Detailed List Of The Poorest Places To Live In Wisconsin
Rank | City | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Antigo | 8,054 |
2 | Milwaukee | 578,198 |
3 | Whitewater | 14,369 |
4 | Wisconsin Rapids | 18,711 |
5 | Racine | 77,705 |
6 | Rice Lake | 8,851 |
7 | Ashland | 7,890 |
8 | Beloit | 36,567 |
9 | Stevens Point | 25,752 |
10 | Merrill | 9,344 |
11 | Platteville | 11,774 |
12 | Shawano | 9,227 |
13 | Portage | 10,351 |
14 | Menomonie | 16,721 |
15 | Kenosha | 99,605 |
16 | Marinette | 11,025 |
17 | La Crosse | 52,505 |
18 | Wausau | 39,745 |
19 | Sturgeon Bay | 9,540 |
20 | Fond Du Lac | 44,412 |
21 | Green Bay | 107,083 |
22 | Chippewa Falls | 14,581 |
23 | Superior | 26,601 |
24 | North Fond Du Lac | 5,349 |
25 | Tomah | 9,515 |
26 | Oshkosh | 66,694 |
27 | Richland Center | 5,097 |
28 | Berlin | 5,546 |
29 | Mayville | 5,165 |
30 | Eau Claire | 69,030 |
31 | Lake Geneva | 8,300 |
32 | Watertown | 23,030 |
33 | Sheboygan | 49,849 |
34 | West Allis | 60,220 |
35 | Baraboo | 12,446 |
36 | Ashwaubenon | 17,042 |
37 | Marshfield | 18,668 |
38 | South Milwaukee | 20,785 |
39 | Manitowoc | 34,267 |
40 | Prairie Du Chien | 5,549 |
41 | Altoona | 8,244 |
42 | Beaver Dam | 16,594 |
43 | Janesville | 65,506 |
44 | Rhinelander | 8,177 |
45 | Delavan | 8,568 |
46 | Jefferson | 7,821 |
47 | Edgerton | 5,825 |
48 | St. Francis | 9,254 |
49 | Plymouth | 8,883 |
50 | Kimberly | 7,286 |
51 | Menasha | 18,157 |
52 | Ripon | 7,784 |
53 | River Falls | 16,058 |
54 | Twin Lakes | 6,306 |
55 | Sparta | 9,955 |
56 | Sturtevant | 6,970 |
57 | Appleton | 74,752 |
58 | New London | 7,197 |
59 | Madison | 265,447 |
60 | Greenfield | 37,623 |
61 | Neenah | 27,194 |
62 | Cudahy | 18,197 |
63 | Glendale | 13,313 |
64 | Burlington | 10,971 |
65 | Brown Deer | 12,562 |
66 | Reedsburg | 9,942 |
67 | Monroe | 10,668 |
68 | West Bend | 31,639 |
69 | Fort Atkinson | 12,529 |
70 | Waupun | 11,494 |
71 | Two Rivers | 11,276 |
72 | Hartford | 15,526 |
73 | Waukesha | 71,307 |
74 | Jackson | 7,131 |
75 | Waupaca | 6,252 |
76 | Bellevue | 15,922 |
77 | Pewaukee | 8,203 |
78 | Howard | 19,828 |
79 | Shorewood | 13,734 |
80 | Weston | 15,609 |
81 | Columbus | 5,465 |
82 | Pleasant Prairie | 21,193 |
83 | Hartland | 9,457 |
84 | Stoughton | 13,158 |
85 | Bristol | 5,155 |
86 | Little Chute | 11,652 |
87 | De Pere | 25,216 |
88 | Port Washington | 12,273 |
89 | Deforest | 10,700 |
90 | Sheboygan Falls | 8,147 |
91 | Kaukauna | 16,929 |
92 | Mukwonago | 8,255 |
93 | West Salem | 5,225 |
94 | Sussex | 11,398 |
95 | Mcfarland | 9,026 |
96 | Onalaska | 18,760 |
97 | Franklin | 36,685 |
98 | Mount Pleasant | 27,572 |
99 | Fitchburg | 29,361 |
100 | Middleton | 21,634 |
I live near whitewater friends live in whitewater, there is no place that rents for 700 or less month, average house goes for 1,500 month
I cannot believe that Eau Claire is 32 poorest cities in Wisconsin, I could understand because the City of Eau Claire is the 19 most dangerous city in the state.
What this study does not clearly take into account is college students. I also live in WW and approximately 2/3 of the 14k population is college kids. The actually town is around 5k. That’s why >30% are considered “poverty”. I would assume this is the case for La Crosse and Platteville as well. Not sure how you could wean those out in a study though as they can be considered “residents”