Median household income in state rises just slightly

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Wisconsin’s median household income rose just 1 percent last year, to $50,578. That’s almost $350 more than the national average.

But the U.S. Census Bureau says Wisconsin’s increase is smaller than the national rate of 1.3 percent. It’s about $450 less than what Wisconsinites made back in 2000.

Charity Eleson of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families says it’s not just the poor who have not benefited from the recent spurt of economic growth. She says those with more moderate incomes are being left behind, too.

The Census Bureau said 588,000 Wisconsinites lived in poverty last year, including 187,000 kids.

The statewide poverty rate was 10.8 percent. Milwaukee’s poverty rate is 24 percent – seventh-highest among the nation’s big cities.

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