Wisconsin

Milwaukee logged lowest number of births on record in 2025, what’s behind the trend

Published

2 weeks ago

January 26, 2026

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.”

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Burger King Franchisee Faces Record Child Labor Penalties

Published

9 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin Burger King Franchisee Faces Record Child Labor Penalties

MADISON, Wis. (WEAU) – WEAU obtained a copy of what’s called a Penalties Determination letter to one of Wisconsin’s largest Burger King franchise operators in a child labor and wage payment investigation.

The letter outlines what it says are penalties for the infractions. At this point, Cave Enterprises Operations LLC, has not been found guilty in a court of law. These are the results of an investigation by the Department of Workforce Development.

Cave Enterprises operates 105 Burger King franchises across Wisconsin, including five in the Eau Claire area.

Scope of Violations

The Department says it found more than 1,656 violations of Wisconsin’s child labor and wage payment laws during a two-year span ending in January 2025. The violations affect more than 600 young workers.

“This is the largest determination of child labor and wage payment violations in modern Wisconsin history,” according to a press release from the Office of Governor Tony Evers.

The allegations include illegal work hours and wage payment failures. According to the DWD, Cave failed to comply with Wisconsin’s Employment of Minors laws and related regulations.

Financial Penalties and Restitution

The Department of Workforce Development determined a penalty of $500 per violation—half the maximum allowed per violation penalty. That amounts to $828,000 in penalties.

Additionally, the Department says Cave Enterprises must pay $237,000 in unpaid wages to affected young workers. This includes unpaid regular wages, overtime wages, and penalty wages.

“If Cave Enterprises makes the payments within the specified timeframe, the Department will consider the matter resolved,” according to the DWD letter.

Next Steps

The State says Cave Enterprises must immediately come into compliance with Wisconsin’s child labor employment laws and regulations. The letter also says the company must pay the outstanding wages and penalties within the timeframe specified by the Department of Workforce Development.

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Wisconsin

How Jack Janicki has become Wisconsin’s latest ‘defensive catalyst’

Published

22 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Press Room

How Jack Janicki has become Wisconsin’s latest ‘defensive catalyst’

Wisconsin guard Jack Janicki is frequently compared to former teammate Carter Gilmore because of his defensive impact.
Coaches and teammates describe Janicki as a “defensive catalyst” and a versatile Swiss Army knife on the court.
He has also embraced a vocal leadership role similar to the one Gilmore held in the previous season.

MADISON – Ask Greg Gard or seemingly anyone else around Wisconsin men’s basketball about redshirt sophomore guard Jack Janicki, and another name almost instinctively keeps coming up.

It’s a player in a different class and at a different position – former UW forward Carter Gilmore.

As Gard recently talked about Janicki’s role, he mentioned how “Gilly was like that” last year. Associate head coach Joe Krabbenhoft has likewise said Janicki’s contributions are “similar to what Carter Gilmore was able to bring to us last year.”

Even Janicki has unpromptedly drawn the parallel between himself and the 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward who suited up for the Badgers from 2020-25.

“I think guys like Carter Gilmore sort of showed the way in terms of how you can really find minutes on the court and find value for yourself in ways that are less apparent,” Janicki said.

All the comparisons to Gilmore are fitting, though, considering the way Janicki has been instrumental in the Badgers’ efforts on the defensive side of the ball in 2025-26 in a way that extends far beyond what box scores may show.

Janicki, Gard said, has been the 2025-26 team’s “defensive catalyst.”

“He can switch a lot of things,” Gard said after the Jan. 28 win over Minnesota. “He’s very astute. He covers up mistakes at times from others. He’s always typically in the right position. … He’s kind of developing into that multi-dimensional guy like Gilmore was.”

Gard and Krabbenhoft have both compared Janicki to a Swiss Army knife with the defensive versatility that he brings to the court. He has so much versatility that he has even channeled his inner Gilmore by often playing at the four-spot when UW operates with small-ball lineups.

“He can guard bigs,” Gard said. “He can guard smalls. He can chase guys, like he did [against Ohio State]. He covers. When he’s in a help position, if we can put him on a non-shooter, his ability to recognize where to kind of back-layer or insulate the defense – his security blankets, we call them, insurance policies, whatever you want to do – that prevents something bad from happening.”

Janicki “brings so much energy to this group,” teammate Austin Rapp said.

“He will lose a tooth,” Rapp said. “He’ll cut his mouth open just for this team to win.”

Janicki really did lose a tooth for the sake of a Wisconsin win, chipping a tooth in the final minute of the Badgers’ 74-67 road win last year against rival Minnesota.

The defensive-minded Janicki’s magnum opus perhaps was Wisconsin’s Jan. 28 win this season over Minnesota.

Janicki had several key plays on defense – “a lot of little things that don’t seem big, but can be like four-point swings,” as he aptly put it – that helped the Badgers overcome a 20-point deficit and pull off a 67-63 win.

Janicki took a charge in textbook fashion in the second half on the defensive possession following Nolan Winter’s go-ahead 3-pointer, with Boyd hyping up the Kohl Center crowd afterward.

The 6-foot-5 guard was credited with a block with 45 seconds remaining in the game after getting his fingertips on an Isaac Asuma 3-point shot attempt that could have given the Gophers the lead.

His biggest play might have been less than a minute before that, as he intercepted Asuma’s pass with 1:17 remaining. His steal set up an offensive possession that ended with a pair of John Blackwell free throws that recaptured the lead one last time for the Badgers.

“That steal he had – his instincts are phenomenal,” Krabbenhoft told reporters. “The charge. And then things that don’t stand on a stat sheet that he does, covering people up that we talked about with Carter with all you guys for so many years. He’s got that in his game.”

Janicki played a major enough role in the win to be one of the players sent to the media room for the postgame press conference despite finishing with zero points, one assist and one rebound.

“Obviously you look at the stat line, and you wouldn’t think much of my performance,” Janicki said after the Minnesota win while sitting next to teammates who scored 23, 21 and seven points. “But obviously I’m out there for a reason.”

Janicki – one of three rotational players to return from 2024-25 – has attempted to fill the leadership role in 2025-26 that Gilmore had in the previous season.

“There’s some voices in the locker room that definitely ring out in times when things are going poorly, and Gilly’s was the voice that we would turn to,” Janicki said.

After this season’s Jan. 6 loss to then-No. 6 Purdue at the Kohl Center – UW’s third consecutive loss to a high-major team at the time – Janicki told his teammates, “This season can go one of two ways.”

“I love that role,” Janicki told the Journal Sentinel. “I think that’ll be something that I carry with me the rest of my life – being able to be a vocal and emotional leader for the Wisconsin Badgers.”

Janicki’s favorite basketball moment with Gilmore – “one of my best friends while he was here” – was last season’s win at Northwestern, when the previous defensive catalyst went off for a career-high 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Janicki has enjoyed some of his own scoring spurts, such as his 11-point performance at Purdue last season or his nine-point performance against Providence this season. But like Gilmore, Janicki has not been the one to be taking critical shots for the Badgers this season.

Gilmore averaged 3.9 points per game in 2024-25; Janicki has averaged 2.3 points per game so far in 2025-26. Gilmore’s possessions used rate – how many offensive possessions end with an action by that player – was 11% in 2024-25, per KenPom. Janicki’s usage rate this season is 10.4%.

“Obviously every basketball player has dreams of going out there and putting a bunch of shots in the hoop, and I still have those goals for myself,” Janicki said. “But at the same time, a lot of different games call for a lot of different things.”

Janicki’s lower shot volume – only 62 attempts in 400 minutes this season – is hardly a surprise given the playmakers on the court with him.

Nick Boyd and Blackwell are statistically two of the top eight scorers in the Big Ten. Winter has 11 double-doubles this season. Andrew Rohde, Braeden Carrington, Austin Rapp and Aleksas Bieliauskas all present perimeter scoring threats.

“I don’t want to not talk about his ability to play on the offensive end,” Krabbenhoft said of Janicki. “He knows right now with the way we’re built and the guys that he’s got around him, how to get on the floor. And that’s a credit to him because he impacts winning.”

In many ways, it’s just like Gilmore, and Janicki sure seems to be taking the comparison to the close friend and revered teammate as a compliment.

“Those are just two dudes that don’t care at all about the stat sheet or whatever,” Winter said. “All they care about is Wisconsin basketball and getting that win, doing whatever it takes, doing all the dirty work that people don’t really see. Both of them really excelled in their roles.”

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin pride shines through Team USA hockey leadership

Published

1 day ago

February 8, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin pride shines through Team USA hockey leadership

Two Wisconsin natives are making their mark at the Olympics, but not as athletes — they’re leading Team USA hockey from behind the bench and in the front office.

John Wroblewski from Neenah in Winnebago County will lead Team USA as the women’s hockey head coach, making his first Olympic appearance.

“It is the thing that these women were dreaming about since the second they became competitive hockey players. The Olympics is where it is at, so it is a real honor to be a part of,” he said.

On the men’s side, another Wisconsin connection is making his mark. Bill Zito from Whitefish Bay, the general manager of the Florida Panthers who just came off back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, now steps into a unique role as assistant general manager of the U.S. men’s hockey team.

“We get to grow our game and to share our game with other people. So, it’s lots of excitement and really sincere appreciation to be able to be a part of it,” Zito said.

Zito helped construct the Team USA roster, describing the process as putting together a puzzle.

Watch: Wisconsin pride shines through Team USA hockey leadership

Wisconsin pride shines through Team USA hockey leadership

“You have certain factors that would go into the makeup of the team. And some of them might be skill, scoring, speed or size or ability to play defense — or being a good guy, just a glue person. That’s something that is not overlooked,” he said.

His Wisconsin roots have been instrumental in his career journey, including an early experience that still influences him.

“I had the good fortune of being a bat boy for the Milwaukee Brewers. That experience, I probably rely on every day,” Zito said.

Both leaders are representing their country on the Olympic stage while carrying significant pride from Wisconsin with them.

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