Equality of Opportunity & Upward Mobility in America

This blog we share results of a study to help you improve your income and situation

Angie attended 18 schools before she turned 16. The only work she had seen her father do was to hold a cardboard sign on a street corner saying that he would work for food. Two women in her Church took an interest in her. They helped her believe in herself, improve her grades, and learn to set goals.  She got a job and was admitted to a good private university. She joined the Army after graduation. She served in Afghanistan in community building. After two tours, she got a great job in Pubic Administration.

Study on Upward Mobility

Harvard University released findings from the Equality of Opportunity Project on upward mobility and geography. The findings section of the study stated the following:

• “In particular, areas with a smaller middle class had lower rates of upward mobility
• A high concentration of income in the top 1% was not highly correlated with mobility patterns
• Areas in which low income individuals were residentially segregated from middle income individuals were also particularly likely to have low rates of upward mobility
• Quality of the K-12 school system also appears to be correlated with mobility
• Areas with higher test scores (controlling for income levels), lower dropout rates, and higher spending per student in schools had higher rates of upward mobility
• High upward mobility areas tended to have higher fractions of religious individuals and fewer children raised by single parents”

Cities with the Most Upward Mobility

Absolute Upward Mobility is a measure of the intergenerational income mobility of a place, i.e., a higher number means that a person with low income parents is more likely to earn a high income. It is defined as the expected income percentile for children born to parents at the 25th income percentile.

The top five cities, with their Absolute Upward Mobility score,  include:

1. Salt Lake City, UT 46.4
2. Pittsburgh, PA 45.0
3. Boston, MA 44.8
4. San Jose, CA 44.7
5. Newark, NJ 44.6

Friday we continue our review of Harvard’s study on opportunity and upward mobility

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