MONROE - Monroe and Brodhead stick out as the poorer patches in Green County, according to a five-year trend analysis released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Monroe Mayor Bill Ross doesn't need to see the new census data to know the city is struggling economically.
"We're off the industrial corridor," he said, and despite years of trying to lure business to the area, he added, results haven't been encouraging. "Boy, the reality of this economy has really hit home."
Monroe's situation isn't uncommon. "Smaller towns just don't seem to be thriving," Ross said. This doesn't seem to apply to towns in the north part of the county, he added, where residents have faster access into the Madison area for higher-paying jobs.
Median household income in the rest of the county fits the $50,000 to $74,999 bracket, with most tracts estimated at about $60,000 or above. In the census tract that includes Brodhead, a rectangular chunk that extends from the city down to the state line, the median is $47,589.
Monroe sits at the meeting point of three tracts, revealing income disparity practically neighborhood by neighborhood.
A median household on the southeast side by the Monroe Country Club earns $55,742, which is about $18,000 more than its counterparts on the north side of the city. (A median is the middle value in a set, not to be confused with the average, which could skew data if there are just a handful of extremely low- or high-income households in a tract.)
On the north side of Monroe, the median household income is $37,460. On the southwest side, from 8th Street to Melvin Road, the median is $41,042.
Almost one in 10 households in the City of Monroe receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the study. For comparison, this percentage is higher than in Madison (6.9 percent), about on par with Baraboo (9.4 percent) and less than in Janesville (11.9 percent).
Lower income data in Brodhead holds up with anecdotal evidence, too.
"In the last three years, the east side of our county has really been hit hard," said Jeannie Blumer, economic support supervisor at Green County Human Services.
The 2008 closing of Janesville's General Motors plant flipped the switch on a chain reaction of layoffs at nearby companies that did GM-related business, according to Blumer, and it reverberated as far west as Brodhead.
"Everyone focused on Rock County," she said, but eastern Green County and other areas suffered, too. Now those jobs are gone, and people who earned $15 an hour now make $11 or $12.
"They're not obtaining the same hourly rates," Blumer said.
Green County as a whole is still more well-off than Lafayette County, according to the census data. Median household incomes are reported in the $40,000 to $50,000 range across the county - $47,803 in the tract that includes Darlington - except in the area of Belmont and Elk Grove. Here the median is slightly higher: $52,448.
For more data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, go to www.census.gov/acs.
Monroe Mayor Bill Ross doesn't need to see the new census data to know the city is struggling economically.
"We're off the industrial corridor," he said, and despite years of trying to lure business to the area, he added, results haven't been encouraging. "Boy, the reality of this economy has really hit home."
Monroe's situation isn't uncommon. "Smaller towns just don't seem to be thriving," Ross said. This doesn't seem to apply to towns in the north part of the county, he added, where residents have faster access into the Madison area for higher-paying jobs.
Median household income in the rest of the county fits the $50,000 to $74,999 bracket, with most tracts estimated at about $60,000 or above. In the census tract that includes Brodhead, a rectangular chunk that extends from the city down to the state line, the median is $47,589.
Monroe sits at the meeting point of three tracts, revealing income disparity practically neighborhood by neighborhood.
A median household on the southeast side by the Monroe Country Club earns $55,742, which is about $18,000 more than its counterparts on the north side of the city. (A median is the middle value in a set, not to be confused with the average, which could skew data if there are just a handful of extremely low- or high-income households in a tract.)
On the north side of Monroe, the median household income is $37,460. On the southwest side, from 8th Street to Melvin Road, the median is $41,042.
Almost one in 10 households in the City of Monroe receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the study. For comparison, this percentage is higher than in Madison (6.9 percent), about on par with Baraboo (9.4 percent) and less than in Janesville (11.9 percent).
Lower income data in Brodhead holds up with anecdotal evidence, too.
"In the last three years, the east side of our county has really been hit hard," said Jeannie Blumer, economic support supervisor at Green County Human Services.
The 2008 closing of Janesville's General Motors plant flipped the switch on a chain reaction of layoffs at nearby companies that did GM-related business, according to Blumer, and it reverberated as far west as Brodhead.
"Everyone focused on Rock County," she said, but eastern Green County and other areas suffered, too. Now those jobs are gone, and people who earned $15 an hour now make $11 or $12.
"They're not obtaining the same hourly rates," Blumer said.
Green County as a whole is still more well-off than Lafayette County, according to the census data. Median household incomes are reported in the $40,000 to $50,000 range across the county - $47,803 in the tract that includes Darlington - except in the area of Belmont and Elk Grove. Here the median is slightly higher: $52,448.
For more data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, go to www.census.gov/acs.