Cleveland millennials from low-income families are faring worse than Gen Xers
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Clevelanders born to low-income families are faring worse than the last generation.
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.
Driving the news: A new analysis from the Census Bureau and Opportunity Insights, a research group at Harvard University, found that in most major U.S. cities, lower income Americans are moving in the wrong direction.
- Researchers compared the average household income at age 27 for Americans born to low-income families in both 1978 and 1992.
What they found: 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.
- Philadelphia had the biggest drop, with those born in 1992 making just $27,200 at age 27, compared to $31,200 for those born in 1978 (down 12.8%).
- In Cleveland, the decrease was more modest, with those born in 1992 making $27,900, compared to $29,100 for their predecessors (down 4.1%).
Go deeper: You can explore the researchers' work at the Opportunity Atlas, an interactive tool where the data can be sliced by income levels, gender, race and more.