By Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer Published Dec 07, 2006 at 4:45 PM
Suburban poor outnumbered their city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty ($15,577 for a family of three in 2005), according to a Brookings Institution study of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

According to the study, Milwaukee was at 24.9 percent poverty, while its suburbs were at 5.1 percent.  To compare, Chicago had 19.9 percent below poverty and its suburbs 7.9.

The poverty rate in cities (18.8 percent) is still higher than in the suburbs (9.4 percent). But the overall number of people living in poverty is higher in the suburbs, mainly because of population growth.

Cleveland had the highest poverty rate last year, at 32.4 percent, while San Jose had the lowest, at 9.7 percent.

Suburban McAllen, Texas, was the suburb with the highest poverty rate last year, at 43.9 percent, while suburban Des Moines, Iowa, had the lowest, at 3.7 percent.  Des Moines has a suburb?  I know you were thinking the same thing. 
Jeff Sherman OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer

A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.

He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.

Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.  

He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.

He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.