Wisconsin
Milwaukee logged lowest number of births on record in 2025, what’s behind the trend
In step with global and national trends, Milwaukee logged its lowest number of births on record in 2025, with just over 7,300 babies born in the city last year.
As of Jan. 5, Milwaukee had recorded 7,343 births in 2025, though that number will likely be closer to 7,386 once records are finalized, according to John D. Johnson, a research fellow at Marquette Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education.
That’s a 5% decline from 2024 and nearly 22% decline from 2019, when birth rates dipped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year marked the lowest number of births on record since the state began collecting data in 1990, but Johnson noted it’s also likely the lowest since the 1960s, when Milwaukee’s population reached peak levels.
Still, following the pandemic drop-off, Milwaukee’s birth count had stabilized slightly between 2022 and 2024. Last year, however, the drop was the steepest in several years.
“None of this is surprising,” Johnson said. “Declining birth rates, in general, are super normal, but I don’t have an answer for what happened [in 2025]. It’s a concerning sign for the city.”
Along with people simply having fewer children than they used to, experts say a lack of affordable homes, health care and childcare are all driving the trend. Locally, parents say social isolation and diminishing resources for new families are also making it more difficult to raise kids in Milwaukee.
Why are fewer people having kids in Milwaukee?
The reasons births are declining in Milwaukee largely mirror the reasons births are declining nationally and globally, according to Noelle Chesley, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Some of those reasons are structural, like the skyrocketing costs of child care and declining access to affordable health care, Chesley said. Others are demographic, including a decline in the number of teenage parents and a growing divide between people who do and don’t want children.
Recent surveys have shown men are more likely to want kids than women; conservative-leaning people more likely to want kids than liberal-leaning people; and religious people more likely than non-religious, Chesley said. That could partly explain why the number of babies born in Milwaukee dropped throughout the 2010s, while the numbers in the surrounding suburbs remained relatively stable, she said.
“We’re so split politically between our city and the suburbs,” she said. “There could be an extent of out-migration to the suburbs as people have kids.”
Statewide, school enrollment data tells a similar story: throughout the 2000s and 2010s, enrollment in suburban school districts increased, while rural school enrollment continually declined, according to Sarah Kemp, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Lab. Urban school districts, including Milwaukee, saw relatively steady enrollment through the 2010s, but the pandemic brought a sharp decline in student enrollment in most Wisconsin cities.
“There’s maybe not housing available for those young families to move into, or maybe the opportunities aren’t there for young families to find employment, and that may then show up in the school districts with declining enrollment,” Kemp said.
In the long term, declining birth rates will continue to strain social safety nets nationwide, namely the Social Security system, Chesley said. Wisconsin also logged its lowest-ever number of births last year, with 59,517 babies born in 2025, compared to more than 72,000 in 1990, according to the state Department of Health Services.
“When you have too many older people and not enough young people, you might see things like not having enough staff to run healthcare and nursing homes. You might not have enough people running restaurants, grocery stores or other businesses,” Chesley said. “There just could be chronic labor shortages.”
Milwaukee’s north side zip codes see steepest decline in births
The disparity in birth numbers isn’t just between the city and suburbs: Milwaukee’s north and south side neighborhoods have seen the largest decreases in births over the past few years, according to Johnson.
That’s likely because some neighborhoods in the city – downtown, the upper east side, lower east side and Bayview – were already seeing lower birth rates, and other neighborhoods are now catching up, Johnson said. However, the lack of resources for pregnant people and young families could also be driving parents-to-be to move out of certain neighborhoods at higher rates, he said.
Milwaukee’s 53209 zip code, which includes the neighborhoods of Menomonee River Parkway and Rufus King, saw 235 fewer births in 2025 than 2019. The neighboring 53218 zip code logged 182 fewer births, and the 53225 zip code, 134 fewer in the same time period. Most other neighborhoods saw declines below 100 births.
Dalvery Blackwell, president and founder of the African American Breastfeeding Network, said while affordability is a struggle for young families citywide, Black families face the largest barriers. The Breastfeeding Network works to decrease the Black maternal and infant mortality rate in Milwaukee, including by training doulas to support people of color through their pregnancies and births.
“The disparities are higher than any other ethnic group when we look at Black families being able to access quality health care, childcare or even housing,” Blackwell said. “The resources are just not available in large part due to systemic racism and social economic inequalities.”
In addition to decades of research, Blackwell’s assessments have been borne out in recent history: In the past few years, the north side has seen several grocery stores, a pediatric doctor’s office and a youth food program all shutter. All five of the Milwaukee Public Schools recently selected for potential permanent closure are clustered on the north side, though Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said she isn’t ready to recommend those schools for closure this fall.
Parents look for community despite social isolation
As births decline, those who do chose to have kids in the Milwaukee area say early parenthood can be stressful, anxiety-inducing and – above all in a post-pandemic world – lonely.
In March 2020, Heather Puente, health officer for the Cudahy Health Department, had just come back from maternity leave with her second child.
“COVID hits, and I was still breastfeeding,” Puente said. “I was pumping, coming home and showering before I could even see the kids or hold my baby. It was one of the honestly worst times that I can think of.”
With her first baby, Puente said she leaned on support groups and free resources for moms through local hospitals, but these these support systems have been diminishing, notably in Cudahy and Milwaukee’s south side. In 2022, Ascension St. Francis Hospital closed its labor and delivery unit.
In the absence of larger support systems, some parents are working to create and provide their own free resources for young families. Puente is a board member for Park Pals WI, a Milwaukee-area nonprofit organizing free programming to children and their families, in hopes of connecting both kids and parents with one another.
A need for connection is also what drove Mequon resident Stephanie Ciatti to start Babbling Babes MKE, a social club for moms across the Milwaukee area. When pregnant with her third child, Ciatti said she “made a vow” to herself to start visiting the coffee shops, stores and restaurants she had loved before becoming a mom but began to feel inaccessible with small children.
Going with a group of other parents made the experience less intimidating, she said. These gatherings have also become a space for moms to connect over their struggles with limited maternity leave, postpartum support and other challenges of raising kids in the city.
“We need to do a better job nurturing those moms in the first year of life when isolation is so high, especially with winters in Wisconsin,” Ciatti said. “If you really lay out the facts, the support does not equal what these women are going through.”
Wisconsin
Wisconsin man accused of setting fire to congressman’s office over TikTok ban gets 7 years in prison
MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin man who allegedly told police he tried to set fire to a Republican congressman’s office last year because he was angry that the lawmaker backed a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell off its U.S. operations was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.
In addition to the prison time, Fond du Lac County Circuit Judge Tricia Walker sentenced 20-year-old Caiden Stachowicz to seven years of extended supervision, court records show.
Stachowicz, of Menasha, pleaded no contest to an arson charge in November. Prosecutors dropped burglary and property damage counts in exchange for Stachowicz’s no contest plea, which isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for the purposes of sentencing.
Stachowicz’s attorney, Timothy Hogan, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
According to a criminal complaint, a police officer responded to a fire outside Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s office in Fond du Lac, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee, at around 1 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2025, and saw Stachowicz standing nearby.
He told the officer that he started the fire because he doesn’t like Grothman, according to the complaint. He initially planned to break into the office and start the fire inside but he couldn’t break the window, so he poured gas on an electrical box behind the building and around the front of the building, lit a match and watched it burn, according to the complaint.
He said he wanted to burn down the office because the federal government was shutting down TikTok in violation of his constitutional rights and peace was not longer an option, the complaint states. He added that Grothman voted for the shutdown, but he didn’t want to hurt Grothman or anyone else.
This undated photo provided by the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department and the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office on Nov. 10, 2025, shows Caiden Stachowicz. Credit: AP/Uncredited
Grothman voted for a bill in April 2024 that required TikTok’s China-based company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operation. The deadline was Jan. 19, 2025, but President Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders prolonging it. TikTok finalized a deal two months ago to create an American version of of the social video platform. Trump praised the deal.
A spokesperson for Grothman’s congressional office didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
MADISON (AP) — Reserve Braeden Carrington scored 18 points, John Blackwell scored 14 points and Wisconsin poured it on in the second half to dismantle Maryland 78-45 on Wednesday night.
Nick Boyd scored 13 points and reserve Austin Rapp scored 11 points for Wisconsin (21-9, 13-6 Big Ten), which had 11 players enter the scoring column.
The Badgers’ Andrew Rohde passed out six of Wisconsin’s 15 assists and didn’t commit a turnover. Wisconsin turned it over only three times.
Andre Mills scored 14 points and Elijah Saunders scored 11 points for Maryland.
Wisconsin turned an already commanding 34-21 first-half stranglehold into a 21-point lead 5 1/2 minutes into the second half. The Badgers shot 48% (27 of 56) and made 42% (13 of 31) from 3-point range. The Badgers scored 44 second-half points.
It was the fewest point Maryland (11-19, 4-15) has ever posted against Wisconsin in the shot-clock era. It was also Maryland’s lowest point total of the season.
Wisconsin has won five of its last seven. Maryland has lost five of its last six.
Up next
Maryland wraps up the regular season hosting 11th-ranked Illinois on Saturday.
Wisconsin ends the regular season at No. 15 Purdue on Saturday.
(WLUK) — As winter thaws, Wisconsinites are encouraged to think about preparing for potential flooding.
Gov. Evers has declared March 9 -13 as Flood Safety Week in Wisconsin.
During Flood Safety Awareness Week, ReadyWisconsin is asking everyone to review their flooding risk and take proactive steps to protect their families, homes, and businesses before waters rise.
- Know your flood risk. Assess the potential for flooding on your property if you live in a flood plain, near a body of water, or have a basement. Plan with your family for what you will do if the floodwaters begin to rise.
- Consider flood insurance. Most homeowner, rental, and business insurance policies generally do not cover flooding. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Most flood coverage requires 30 days to take effect. Find more information about flood insurance options here.
- Move valuables or mementos out of the basement and store them in waterproof containers.
- Elevate or flood-proof your washer, dryer, water heater, and HVAC systems. Relocate electrical outlets to three feet above the floor.
- Have copies of important documents (personal identification like passports and birth certificates, medical records, insurance policies, and financial documents) in a waterproof container.
- Build a “Go Kit.” Include items such as food, water, cash, and medications.
- Make an emergency plan. If you can’t make it home or need to leave quickly, identify a meeting place for your family. Make a list of emergency numbers and important contacts.
- Keep water out of and away from your house. Clean gutters regularly, direct downspouts away from your foundation, repair cracks in your foundation, improve grading so water flows away from your house, and cover window wells.
When flooding occurs, keep the following steps in mind:
- Stay up to date on the forecast. Identify multiple ways to receive alerts about dangerous weather conditions and potential flooding, such as a NOAA Weather Radio, trusted local news outlets, and mobile weather apps. Enable Wireless Emergency Alerts on your smartphones.
- Never drive or walk through flooded areas. Just six inches of fast-moving water can sweep adults off their feet, while just 12 inches can carry away a small car or 24 inches for larger vehicles. Moving water is not the only danger, your vehicle could potentially stall when driving through floodwater.
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
Flooding could potentially impact your health as well. Avoid entering floodwaters, which can contain bacteria from human and animal waste, sharp objects, hazardous chemicals, downed power lines, and other dangerous items. If your home floods, follow cleaning and disinfection guidelines to avoid mold growth.
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