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 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.

Nathaniel Hendren, assistant professor of economics at Harvard University, joined 

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."

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Children from low-income backgrounds may earn more if they're from one place rather than another.

A Harvard University study looks at the best places to raise children if you want them to climb the income ladder. For example, here in the Twin Cities metro, St. Croix County, Wisconsin is the best place for low-income boys to have upward mobility as young adults. Hennepin County comes up as the worst in the metro. In other words, children from low-income backgrounds may earn more if they're from one place than another. GUEST: Nathaniel Hendren of Harvard University

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

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