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Cited by 2,922Intergenerational and Educational Inequality StudiesIncome, Poverty, and InequalityUrban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

Where is the land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States *

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Chetty, Raj, Hendren, Nathaniel, Kline, Patrick, Saez, Emmanuel·2014·The Quarterly Journal of Economics
DOI 10.1093/qje/qju022
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Abstract

Abstract We use administrative records on the incomes of more than 40 million children and their parents to describe three features of intergenerational mobility in the United States. First, we characterize the joint distribution of parent and child income at the national level. The conditional expectation of child income given parent income is linear in percentile ranks. On average, a 10 percentile increase in parent income is associated with a 3.4 percentile increase in a child’s income. Second, intergenerational mobility varies substantially across areas within the United States. For example, the probability that a child reaches the top quintile of the national income distribution starting from a family in the bottom quintile is 4.4% in Charlotte but 12.9% in San Jose. Third, we explore the factors correlated with upward mobility. High mobility areas have (i) less residential segregation, (ii) less income inequality, (iii) better primary schools, (iv) greater social capital, and (v) greater family stability. Although our descriptive analysis does not identify the causal mechanisms that determine upward mobility, the publicly available statistics on intergenerational mobility developed here can facilitate research on such mechanisms.

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  • The median income segregation across Census tracts within the 100 largest commuting zones is H = 0.084, with an interquartile range of 0.067 to 0.099.

    “the median level of income segregation (at the 25th percentile) across Census tracts within the 100 largest commuting zones in America is H = 0.084, with an interquartile range of 0.067 to 0.099 (Chetty et al. 2014, Online Data Table 8).”

    From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Chetty et al. 2014

    Section VI.B defines income segregation using a two-group Theil index H(p) across census tracts within commuting zones, including a measure at the 25th percentile. The passages in our copy do not give the claimed median of 0.084, interquartile range of 0.067–0.099, or summary for the 100 largest commuting zones; those figures cannot be verified from this copy. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The fraction of children linked to parents drops sharply prior to the 1980 birth cohort because the data begin in 1996 and many children leave the household starting at age 17; the analysis sample is therefore limited to children born in or after 1980.

    “The fraction of children linked to parents drops sharply prior to the 1980 birth cohort because our data begins in 1996 and many children begin to the leave the household starting at age 17 (Chetty et al. 2014).Hence, we limit our analysis sample to children born in or after 1980.”

    From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Chetty et al. 2014

  • The national relationship between child rank and parent rank is almost perfectly linear, consistent with Chetty et al. (2014).

    “This relationship is almost perfectly linear, consistent with the findings of Chetty et al. (2014).”

    From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Chetty et al. (2014)

  • Tax returns leave few children unclaimed, since claiming them brings sizable refundable credits.

    “Very few children are unclaimed on tax returns (Chetty et al. 2014) because claiming children yields substantial refundable tax credits.”

    From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Chetty et al. 2014

  • Given that 7.5% of children born to bottom-quintile parents in the 1980-82 cohorts reach the top quintile on average in the U.S. and that Asians are 6.5% of these cohorts, Asian students' success rates are at most 23.5 pp higher than non-Asians'.

    “Given that 7.5% of children born to parents in the bottom quintile in the 1980-82 birth cohorts reach the top quintile on average in the U.S.(Chetty et al. 2014) and that Asians make up 6.5% of children born in these cohorts, it follows that Asian students have success rates that are at most 23.5 pp higher than non-Asians.”

    From Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility (2017) · cites this paper as Chetty et al. 2014

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Cites

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Research works printed but not linked: 42

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Cited by

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Authors
Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Kline, P., & Saez, E.
Affiliations
  • National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
ORCID
Venue
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2014-09-14
Volume
129
Issue
4
Pages
1553-1623
ISSN
  • 0033-5533 (ISSN-L)
  • 1531-4650
DOI
10.1093/qje/qju022
OpenAlex
W2105584013
Cited by
2,922
References
5
Citations by year
2026: 211 · 2025: 323 · 2024: 347 · 2023: 277 · 2022: 272 · 2021: 278 · 2020: 277 · 2019: 283 · 2018: 224 · 2017: 142 · 2016: 139 · 2015: 99 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 2
FWCI
456.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • The Quarterly Journal of Economics (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies
Keywords
intergenerational mobility, upward mobility, child income, parental income, income distribution, residential segregation, income inequality, school quality, social capital, family stability, United States

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