While the poverty rate for Wisconsin’s increasing Latino population is double that of the state’s rate as a whole, Latinos in Wisconsin are becoming better educated and speaking English more proficiently, according to a recently released UW-Madison statistical report.
Findings in the 58-page report, which come mainly from the 2010 Census and a Census Bureau American Community survey, speak volumes about Latinos in Wisconsin through a compilation of statistics and profiles broken down by county.
"Most of the people who are doing community programming with Latinos, such as service providers and educators, are interested in local characteristics and trends," author David Long said in the report. "The county profiles offer a way to drill down a little deeper to a more local level."
Between the years 2000 and 2010, Wisconsin’s population of Latino residents grew from 193,000 to 336,000, making up 5.9 percent of the state’s population in 2010.
The state’s Latino population has seen a decrease in median income, however. In 2010, the median income for Latinos in Wisconsin was 72 percent of that of all households, a decrease from 80 percent in 2000.
Five percent more Wisconsin Latinos are earning a high school diploma than were in 2000, according to the report—a statistic with the potential to improve when considering the majority of Wisconsin’s Latinos are younger than age 10. Latinos make up 18 percent of Wisconsin’s student population, of which the Delavan-Darien School District is currently educating the greatest proportion.
Additionally, Wisconsin Latinos who reported they only speak Spanish or insufficient English dropped from 21 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2010.
