Where you raise kids affects their long-term upward mobility, study says

Historic sign
The St. Croix River front and pedestrian walkway in Hudson, Wis., 2013.
Jeffrey Thompson | MPR Photo file

A new Harvard University study looked at the best places to raise children if you want them to climb the income ladder. Their conclusion: Children from low-income backgrounds may earn more or less depending on what county they are raised in.

"Every extra year a child spends in a better environment - as measured by the outcomes of children already living in that area - improves her outcomes, a pattern we term a childhood exposure effect," according to the study. "We find equal and opposite exposure effects for children whose families moved to worse areas."

The study look at upward social mobility by measuring income at age 26.

In the Twin Cities metro, St. Croix County, Wis. is the best place for low-income boys to have upward mobility as young adults. Hennepin County is the worst.

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Nathaniel Hendren, assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, joined MPR News' Kerri Miller to discuss the findings.

The research found five main factors in counties that correlated to poor outcomes for children: higher degrees of income inequality, more racial segregation, less civic engagement, lower quality K-12 education and less emphasis on family structure.

The differences can be stark between major cities. Baltimore had the lowest social mobility for low-income kids in the 100 largest counties, Hendren said.

"Take a kid who spends 20 years growing up in Baltimore versus 20 years growing up in Hennepin County," he said. "We think the impact of growing up in Hennepin County relative to Baltimore would increase their incomes by 20 to 25 percent. By even more so if it was a low-income boy as opposed to a low-income girl."

Graphic: How does your county compare? (New York Times)