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Where You Grow Up Makes a Huge Difference in Your Salary as an Adult
Children who move to communities with low poverty rates get ahead, new research finds
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Where you grow up is a big determinant of where you're headed in life, at least when it comes to Americans' chances of climbing from the bottom of the income ladder to the top.
Moving to a Census tract with a low poverty rate at a young age increases adulthood earnings by 30 percent, according to a re-analysis of data from Moving to Opportunity, a study started in the 1990's in which 4,600 low-income families had a chance to move from public housing to private housing in less-distressed neighborhoods. Harvard economists Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren and Larry Katz completed the research, which has yet to be released. Chetty presented the findings at a Federal Reserve conference last week.