It took Milwaukee more than a decade to turn the corner on the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Owner-occupancy didn’t begin increasing until the late 2010s. At that time, homebuyers were to a great degree disproportionately White relative to their overall share of the city’s population. In 2018, about 39% of the adult population was White, but they accounted for 57% of homebuyers. In the years since then, homebuying has increased among Black and Latino residents, bringing the citywide breakdown of homebuyers more in line with the city’s demographics.

The spatial pattern of recent homebuying is also increasing the city’s racial diversity across most neighborhoods because many homebuyers of all races are purchasing homes in neighborhoods where they are currently a racial minority among homeowners. Black homebuyers are often buying in majority White parts of the northwest side. Latino homebuying is increasing in both White neighborhoods on the far south and southwest sides as well as Black neighborhoods on the north side. And White homebuying is actually increasing across the historically extremely segregated Black near north side.

We first reported on these trends on May 14 for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. This post shares additional maps and statistics from that research, while incorporating newly released mortgage data covering 2025.

I use Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data provided by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for this research, so my data excludes information on the small share of homebuyers who purchase their homes outright.

Here are the stats. In 2018, 4,053 mortgages were originated for Milwaukee homebuyers, by which I mean purchasers who indicated that they would become owner-occupiers. That grew to 5,496 at the peak of the market in 2021. In 2025, 3,568 such mortgages were originated, which was a slight decline from 2024.

Table 1: Mortgages Originated for Owner-Occupiers, by Recipient Race

City of Milwaukee

	total	White	Black	Latino	Asian	Other/Joint	Not Available
2018	4,053	2,169	630	607	267	155	225
2019	4,190	2,071	759	596	287	170	307
2020	4,817	2,296	978	709	297	218	319
2021	5,496	2,405	1,222	791	351	258	469
2022	4,649	1,933	1,053	769	264	213	417
2023	3,651	1,466	821	634	208	188	334
2024	3,635	1,361	804	707	235	163	365
2025	3,568	1,409	731	678	217	169	364

In 2018, 57% of mortgages were originated for White homebuyers and 32% for Black or Latino buyers. By comparison, the city’s adult population is about 39% White and 53% Black or Latino. The 2025 buyer numbers, while still not representative, come much closer to matching the city’s demographics. Last year, White buyers received 44% of mortgages vs. another 44% for Black or Latino buyers. This was a small decline in representativeness relative to 2024. In that year, 42% of homebuyers were White and 47% Black or Latino.

Relative to the adult population share in the last census, White homebuyers in 2025 were overrepresented by 5 points, Latino buyers by 3 points, and Asian buyers by 2 points. Black buyers were underrepresented by 12 points. This is still a quite bad result, but it’s a big improvement over 2018 when they were underrepresented by 19 points.

Table 2: Mortgages Issued to Owner-Occupiers, Share by Race

City of Milwaukee, among applicants for whom race is known

	White	Black	Latino	Asian	Other/Joint
2018	57%	16%	16%	7%	4%
2019	53%	20%	15%	7%	4%
2020	51%	22%	16%	7%	5%
2021	48%	24%	16%	7%	5%
2022	46%	25%	18%	6%	5%
2023	44%	25%	19%	6%	6%
2024	42%	25%	22%	7%	5%
2025	44%	23%	21%	7%	5%
Pop. Share1	39%	35%	18%	5%	4%
1Citywide share of the adult population in the 2020 census

Throughout this article, all mortgage percentages are calculated as a share of mortgages where the applicant’s race is known. The share of HMDA records lacking applicant race has grown over time, apparently as a result of some online mortgage providers failing to collect this information. At the tract level in Milwaukee, missing race data is not meaningfully correlated with the Black, White, or Latino population share.

Geography of homebuying

Besides counting the entire population for redistricting purposes, the 2020 census also recorded the ownership or renter status of each household. This data is published at the tract level. I assigned each tract to a Milwaukee aldermanic district and added up the owner-occupiers of each race. Then, I did the same exercise for homebuying mortgage recipients in the following years. Comparing the race of homebuyers in 2020-2025 with the race of existing homeowners in the 2020 census reveals how recent homebuying differs from (or matches) the status quo in each aldermanic district.

Complete statistics are available in the table at the end of this post, but here are a few highlights. Broadly speaking, Black and Latino homebuying has increased on the city’s fringes, where White homebuying has declined. Latino homebuying has also increased across every part of the north side, often by double-digits. White homebuying has declined, as a share of the total, almost everywhere except the near north side.

Black homebuying: growing on the periphery, shrinking in the center

The Black share of homebuyers grew at least a little in 9 districts, most notably in the 5th, on the city’s northwest fringe. Here, 22% of homeowners in 2020 were Black, growing to 28% among recent homebuyers. The 5th district saw more homebuyers during the early 2020s than any other district.

Black purchasing actually declined in some of the districts with the largest Black population share. In the 1st, 73% of homeowners in 2020 were Black, falling to 63% of recent buyers. The adjacent 7th district saw an almost identical pattern, 76% to 65%. In the 15th, Black residents were 71% of homeowners in 2020 vs. 56% of recent buyers.

The biggest change was in the 6th district, which includes parts of Riverwest, Brewers Hill, and Harambee. In the 2020 census, 55% of homeowners were Black but only 23% of buyers have been since.

Latino homebuying: growing almost everywhere

Homebuying by Latinos has grown a great deal in both historically majority Black and White neighborhoods. In the 11th and 13th districts on the far south and southwest sides, the Latino share of recent buyers grew by more than 10 points over their share in the 2020 census.

In the 15th district, on the near north side, Latinos were 6% of homeowners in 2020, growing to 17% among more recent homebuyers. The Latino share of homebuyers increased by 5-10 points across the rest of the north side.

White homebuying: declining on the periphery, growing on the near north side

In the 11th and 13th districts, the White share of recent homebuyers was 25 points lower than in the 2020 census. In the 5th, White residents comprised 67% of homeowners in 2020 but 52% of recent buyers. Likewise, in the 9th, they were 38% of homeowners in 2020 vs. 22% of buyers since then.

Contrast that to the districts on the near north side. In the 6th district, 33% of homeowners in 2020 were White, but that grew to 61% among more recent buyers. In the 15th district, located further west, only 12% of homeowners were White in 2020, growing to 20% of recent buyers.

What do these patterns mean?

Even in this tight housing market, people across Milwaukee are choosing to buy houses here, in neighborhoods spanning the diversity of the city.

That growth is being driven by homebuying activity among Black and Latino Milwaukeeans. In fact, the specific patterns of where people are buying are increasing the racial diversity of the city. This change isn’t huge, but it is real and widespread. Seventy-eight percent of the city’s roughly 200 census tracts saw more diversity among recent homebuyers than they did among homeowners in 2020. To put a specific number on it, in the average tract, the odds of two homebuyers who purchased from 2020 to 2026 being of different races was 9 percentage points higher than among the existing homeowners in 2020.

As we wrote in May, “These patterns of movement could be interpreted in different ways. To some, the demographic changes among homebuyers on the city’s periphery might be evidence of ongoing ‘White flight’ to the suburbs. To others, the nascent movement of White homebuyers into the near north side could be a sign of gentrification. Still others might view these changes as part of the natural ebb and flow of any diverse urban population.

“All of these explanations require various assumptions about the motivations and incentives of individual homebuyers. What we can say empirically is this: Homebuying in the early 2020s increased neighborhood diversity and reduced residential segregation in most of Milwaukee.”

Addendum: Complete Aldermanic Statistics

Table 3: Milwaukee Aldermanic Districts: Mortgage Activity vs. Owner-Occupancy

Home purchase mortgages 2020–2024 compared to 2020 Census owner-occupier race shares

	Owner-Occupiers (2020 Census)				Mortgages (2020–2024)		Mortgage Share (%)1			Diff. from OO Share (pp)2
District3	Total	White	Black	Hispanic	All mortgages	Race available4	White	Black	Hispanic	White	Black	Hispanic
1st	5,656	18	73	4	1,416	1,303	16	63	13	-2	-10	10
2nd	5,798	25	59	4	1,704	1,546	14	59	14	-11	0	10
3rd	4,528	87	3	4	1,482	1,345	83	3	5	-4	0	0
4th	2,563	81	7	4	982	902	79	6	5	-1	0	1
5th	8,951	67	22	4	3,242	2,974	52	28	8	-15	6	5
6th	4,010	33	55	7	1,076	969	61	23	8	28	-31	1
7th	6,343	15	76	3	1,543	1,393	16	65	12	1	-11	9
8th	5,661	38	2	55	1,210	1,125	27	4	60	-11	2	5
9th	7,048	38	45	4	2,009	1,824	22	47	10	-17	2	6
10th	7,465	75	13	7	2,218	2,045	65	13	13	-10	0	6
11th	9,445	78	1	14	2,751	2,523	54	4	28	-25	3	13
12th	3,205	23	2	70	571	514	22	4	67	-1	2	-4
13th	9,241	70	1	21	2,357	2,138	45	3	32	-25	2	11
14th	9,067	80	1	15	2,483	2,239	74	1	15	-6	0	0
15th	4,001	12	71	6	772	708	20	56	17	8	-16	11
1Calculated as a share of mortgages where race of applicant was reported.
2Percentage point difference between mortgage share and 2020 owner-occupier share. Positive (green) = over-represented in mortgages; negative (red) = under-represented.
3Data is aggregated from census tracts corresponding to, but not exactly matching, district boundaries.
4Only mortgages where race of applicant was reported.
Sources: HMDA (2020–2024); U.S. Census Bureau (2020 Decennial Census)