Individual Poverty Rates

• According to the U.S. Census, 12.6% of people in the U.S. had incomes below the poverty line in 2022, so both Minnesota and Wisconsin have a lower proportion of their populations living in poverty.
• Except for Burnett County, all the St. Croix River Valley counties had lower proportions of their populations living in poverty than their respective state averages.
• Wisconsin counties in the St. Croix River Valley tend to have higher proportions of their populations with incomes below the poverty line than their Minnesota counterparts.
   

• For Wisconsin and most of its St. Croix River Valley counties, the percentage of individuals living in poverty was flat to slightly increasing until 2014.
• Since 2014, the percentage of individuals living in poverty has been trending downward in three out of five jurisdictions, except for Pierce and St. Croix counties – where it has been increasing slightly since 2020.
• St. Croix County has consistently had a substantially lower and Pierce and Polk Counties slightly lower proportions of their populations living in poverty than Wisconsin as a whole.
• While Burnett has consistently had a higher proportion of their residents living in poverty than the state average, that gap has been narrowing over time.
   

• The proportion of people in Minnesota living in poverty has been essentially flat over the 2019 – 2022 period.
• The percentages of individuals living in poverty in Chisago and Washington Counties have consistently been below the state average and has declined modestly over the 2013 – 2022 time period.

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