Wisconsin

While the national poverty rate dropped by 4 percent from the time Lyndon Johnson first declared the War on Poverty in 1964 to 2010, Wisconsin has remained one of the states with the lowest levels of poverty in the country. The rates across counties and demographics, though, have varied considerably.

Poverty data first became available in Wisconsin in the 1960s. At that time, household poverty in Wisconsin hovered around 25 percent. In 2000, the rate had been reduced to just above 5 percent; however, in the ensuing 10 years, 2010 census data indicated that the poverty rate had increased again to 11 percent. That dip is largely seen as a result of the Great Recession in 2008, which hit Wisconsin particularly hard.

Since the 1960s, Menominee County, ...