Sep 4, 2024 - News
Chicago's upward mobility shrinks
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Chicago residents born to low-income families are faring worse than the previous generation, per a Harvard University analysis.
- It matches a national trend.
Why it matters: Intergenerational mobility — the idea that you'll do better than your parents, your children will do better than you, and so on — is core to the American dream.
The big picture: In 38 of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas, Americans born to low-income families in 1992 were doing worse at age 27 than those born in 1978 at that age, per an analysis from the Census Bureau and Opportunity Insights, a research group at Harvard University.