How social networks impact economic mobility in Racine, WI, San Francisco, CA, and Washington, DC

Across the U.S., economic mobility is frequently linked with geography. Some places afford poor children the opportunity to do better economically than their parents did, and other places do not. Social networks, providing access to support, information, power, and resources, are a critical and often neglected element of opportunity structures. Social capital matters for mobility.

We undertook this research project to understand and compare the social networks of groups of diverse individuals in three U.S. cities (Racine, WI; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC) relative to job, stable housing, and...