Those poverty numbers
Are they what the JS and Barrett say?

Oct. 17, 2005 -- Milwaukee has a huge poverty problem, no doubt about that.

But does Milwaukee rank 7th in the number of people living in poverty, as the Journal Sentinel and Mayor Tom Barrett claim?

Maybe, says the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, the source of the JS and Barrett statements.

On the other hand, according to the ACS, the city might rank 16th in poverty. Or second. Or somewhere in between.

The ACS does rank Milwaukee seventh in poverty, but also makes abundantly clear that the ranking is statistically insignificant from the five above it and the nine below it.

Barrett used the rankings to show that MIlwaukee also had a higher poverty rate than New Orleans in 2002 and 2003. The ACS survey for those years shows in each instance that Milwaukee could indeed be poorer than New Orleans.

Or not. The Census Bureau says the difference between the cities in each of those years is statistically insignificant.