Infant Mortality

• Counties in the St. Croix River Valley generally had lower infant mortality rates than their respective states.
• County-level yearly infant mortality rates have been unavailable for Minnesota counties since 2019.
• Burnett and Polk counties did not register any infant deaths in 2020, the latest year with available county-level data among Wisconsin counties. 
• The infant mortality rate in Wisconsin is 46% higher than in Minnesota.
   

• In most years, the Wisconsin counties in the St. Croix River Valley have had lower infant mortality rates than the state average. 
• There is not an obvious trend in the infant mortality rate in Wisconsin or the St. Croix River Valley counties. 
• Because there are relatively small numbers of births in any given county in a given year, the infant mortality rate is powerfully affected by the death of even a single infant, which is why there is so much volatility displayed in this graph.
• County-level yearly infant mortality data is unavailable for Wisconsin counties from 2021 onwards.

• Infant mortality rates were trending downward in Minnesota, Washington County and Chisago County until 2020; the statewide infant mortality rate rose in 2021.
• Washington County has almost always had a lower infant mortality rate than the state average.
• The infant mortality rate in Chisago County, in part because if its smaller population base, has been much more volatile, but has consistently been below the Minnesota average since 2014.
• County-level yearly infant mortality data is unavailable for Minnesota counties from 2019 onwards.

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