MaryJo Webster
Data Editor
Webster is most interested in telling stories that get behind the daily news, give readers a deeper understanding of what's happening around them and hold government agencies and officials accountable.
Previously, she worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, USA Today, the Center for Public Integrity, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Oshkosh Northwestern and the New Ulm Journal.
She has journalism bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and the University of Missouri-Columbia, respectively.
Webster is board member for the Minnesotans for Open Government (MNOG), which is the state's all-volunteer freedom of information council. She is also a senior fellow for the Center for Health Journalism's Data Fellowship program, where she trains and mentors journalists on how to incorporate data into their reporting. She previously taught part-time at the University of Minnesota’s journalism school and is a regular panelist and teacher at national journalism conferences and workshops.
Latest from MaryJo Webster
Backlash against DEI halts gains for Black Minnesotans post-Floyd
Despite 2020 promises, a national backlash has slammed the brakes on investments aimed at narrowing socioeconomic gaps.
May 20, 2025
Enrollment data shows how Minnesota schools and students are changing. Look up your district.
The number of kids is relatively flat, but students are more diverse than they used to be and their families are choosing different kinds of schools.
May 5, 2025
Eviction filings spike in January as COVID money dries up: ‘Folks don’t have a cushion'
Many Minnesota counties saw double the number of filings compared to monthly averages in 2024.
March 1, 2025
The gender wage gap continues to plague Minnesota, U.S.
The gender pay gap exists at all income levels, but it widens as women earn more. Race exacerbates the disparity.
May 16, 2024
Why Minnesota millennials feel worse off than their parents
The specter of the 2008 recession continues to haunt many millennials, whose income started slow and might not catch up to their parents.
May 16, 2024
The middle class remains elusive for Native Americans in Minnesota
For Native Americans in Minnesota, the economic story of the recent decades is one of tenuous and fragile growth. Native American income was the fastest growing between 2005 and 2019, according to new data, yet no other group remains as likely to fall down the economic ladder.
May 16, 2024
Asian Americans have the most income mobility in Minnesota
Asian Minnesotans have higher income mobility rates than not only other racial groups in the state but also Asian Americans in other states.
May 16, 2024
At one point, Black income grew the fastest of any race in Minnesota, but disparities persist
The 2008 Great Recession hit Black Minnesotans the hardest, and it took them the longest to recover. Such income disproportion concerns Black leaders, state officials and economists who noted half of Black wage earners in the state still don’t make enough to live comfortably.
May 16, 2024
Why Minnesota millennials feel worse off than their parents
The specter of the 2008 recession continues to haunt many millennials, whose income started slow and might not catch up to their parents.
May 16, 2024
The middle class remains elusive for Native Americans in Minnesota
For Native Americans in Minnesota, the economic story of the recent decades is one of tenuous and fragile growth. Native American income was the fastest growing between 2005 and 2019, according to new data, yet no other group remains as likely to fall down the economic ladder.
May 16, 2024
Asian Americans have the most income mobility in Minnesota
Asian Minnesotans have higher income mobility rates than not only other racial groups in the state but also Asian Americans in other states.
May 16, 2024
At one point, Black income grew the fastest of any race in Minnesota, but disparities persist
The 2008 Great Recession hit Black Minnesotans the hardest, and it took them the longest to recover. Such income disproportion concerns Black leaders, state officials and economists who noted half of Black wage earners in the state still don’t make enough to live comfortably.
May 16, 2024