A tale of two metros- growing Madison and flatlining Milwaukee

Interesting release from the Census Bureau today, which released its annual estimates of population for cities, towns and villages. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel took note of a sizable drop in Wisconsin's largest City, leaving it back at the same level it was at 7 years ago.

For the first part of the decade, the city saw slight annual population increases, growing from 595,188 in 2010 to 600,178 in 2014. Starting with the 2015 population estimates, Milwaukee's numbers started declining, falling by about 1% to 595,047 in 2016.

80 miles down I-94, the story was very different.

Madison's population grew by 3,938 people from 2015 to 2016. Its total population is now 252,551, up 8.1% since 2010.

Mayor Paul Soglin said those figures are a reflection of the area's economy and quality of life.

"We're building an economy that's designed to create a great place where people want to live and raise their families," he said. "Jobs are at the core, but quality of life is way up there."

I'm no fan of the recent takeover and gutting of the Journal-Sentinel, but one the few advantages to Gannett's ownership is that they like to use more charts and databases, and they’ve made one that shows the population changes in the 2010s for every town, city and village in Wisconsin using this updated Census information. Feel free to click around to see what's going on in your neck of the woods.

Most remarkable in Madison’s growth is that the city added more people in 2016 than the whole rest of the state.

Population change, 2015-2016
City of Madison +3,938
Rest of Wisconsin +3,393

This pattern is similar for the state in the entire 2010s, albeit not as extreme. Madison and the rest of Dane County are the source of the largest additions of people, including 4 of the 5 largest-growing cities and villages in Wisconsin.

Population change, 2010-2016
City of Madison +18,920
City of Fitchburg +3,654
City of Sun Prairie +3,196
Village of Hobart +2,374
City of Verona +2,256

Rest of Dane County +15,174
Rest of Wisconsin +46,148

On the flip side, the state’s largest city and county is losing people and its related metro area is stagnant at best.

Population change, 2015-2016
City of Milwaukee -5,008
Rest of Milwaukee Co. -1,279
Waukesha Co. +2,064
Ozaukee Co. +364
Washington Co. +622
TOTAL MKE, WOW Counties -3,237

Population change, 2010-2016
City of Milwaukee +214
Rest of Milwaukee Co. +3,499
Waukesha Co. +8,433
Ozaukee Co. +1,919
Washington Co. +2,409
TOTAL MKE, WOW Counties +16,474

Not surprisingly, this also reflects in the performance of the economies of both areas. The Madison area is booming while the Milwaukee metro is comparatively stuck in neutral. This is especially true in the last year, where Madison keeps growing, even with unemployment below 3%, while Milwaukee has actually lost jobs. But it’s just an acceleration of a larger trend since Scott Walker and the Wisconsin GOP allegedly made Wisconsin “open for business” starting with the passage of Act 10 in 2011.

Change in all jobs since April 2016
Madison Metro +5,100 (+1.3%)
Milwaukee Metro -4,700 (-0.5%)
Rest of Wisconsin +37,700 (+2.3%)

Change in private sector jobs since April 2016
Madison Metro +4,200 (+1.4%)
Milwaukee Metro –5,100 (-0.7%)
Rest of Wisconsin +30,200 (+1.2%)

Change in all jobs April 2011- April 2017
Madison Metro +42,400 (+11.8%)
Milwaukee Metro +46,500 (+5.7%)
Rest of Wisconsin +124,100 (+7.9%)

Change in private sector jobs April 2011- April 2017
Madison Metro +41,100 (+15.1%)
Milwaukee Metro +48,800 (+6.8%)
Rest of Wisconsin +120,200 (+6.8%)


All this, AND a bunch of smart people? No wonder it's booming.

Maybe the 2010s strategy of the suburban-run WisGOPs of cutting state aid, voucherizing schools and micromanaging Milwaukee isn’t quite working out, is it? And maybe having regressive social legislation and giving money away to corporate oligarchs isn’t how you draw talent to the state’s largest city and economic engine.

I have a better idea on how to get the state’s economy moving for real people. How about taking a page out of Madison’s book, and investing in education, quality of life, and having a progressive outlook on employee wages and benefits? We know the MMAC/WMC “give the store away to the rich and politically-connected” strategy is failure, so why don’t we head in the direction that’s working in the 2010s?

And notice which party runs local government in Madison but who isn’t being given the chance to allow Milwaukee’s potential to be unleashed? That’s right, it’s the Dems. The WMC/MMAC oligarchs and their GOP puppets are the biggest reason behind the decline in Milwaukee and the stagnation in the rest of the state, and the Dems should be allowed to take the wheel for a while from these regressive dimwits and get things back on course.