Americans have long understood that their birthplace can significantly affect their futures, and academics have increasingly been able to connect tangible early life factors like where they live and the friendships they've cultivated with potential future income.
Among the most recent studies shedding light on what's known as economic mobility—a person's ability to move themselves and their families up the socioeconomic ladder over their lifetime—are a series of papers authored by Harvard University researchers leveraging vast troves of social networking data.
As part of a national analysis, Wealth Enhancement Group used data from Harvard University's Social Capital Atlas project to identify where in Arkansas children have the best (and worst) chances at upward economic mobility.
The research draws on a privacy-protected dataset representing 21 billion friendships from Facebook made public through its parent company Meta's Data for Good project. It also uses anonymous tax records, according to the authors. The scholars assigned a score to locales according to how economically connected low- and high-income people living in the area have historically been over at least a decade, per that data. The dataset does not include scores for about 180 of the 3,000 or so counties in the U.S.
The research attempts to fill in the gaps of previous efforts to study American economic mobility that did not consider a person's vast social networks nor their importance in creating better lives for themselves and their children.
It turns out the ability to cultivate friendships linking people of different socioeconomic backgrounds with one another is the strongest factor in determining whether a child can surpass the earning potential of their parents, Harvard researchers found. They call this economic connectedness.
Read on to find out where economic connectedness is strongest in your state.
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1 / 50#50. Scott County
- Economic connectedness: 0.65
- Median Income: $43,577
- Population: 9,928
--- 85.7% white
--- 2.9% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#49. Lincoln County
- Economic connectedness: 0.65
- Median Income: $49,474
- Population: 13,092
--- 65.2% white
--- 29.9% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#48. Pike County
- Economic connectedness: 0.66
- Median Income: $46,672
- Population: 10,234
--- 88.8% white
--- 4% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
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4 / 50#47. Ashley County
- Economic connectedness: 0.68
- Median Income: $42,683
- Population: 19,362
--- 71.6% white
--- 25.1% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#46. Pulaski County
- Economic connectedness: 0.68
- Median Income: $55,235
- Population: 397,931
--- 53.7% white
--- 37.3% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.3% Asian
#45. Union County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $46,444
- Population: 39,262
--- 63.6% white
--- 32.7% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#44. Hot Spring County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $46,724
- Population: 33,096
--- 84.5% white
--- 11.2% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
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8 / 50#43. Cross County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $45,247
- Population: 16,935
--- 72.9% white
--- 15.7% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
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9 / 50#42. Calhoun County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $55,904
- Population: 4,811
--- 74.9% white
--- 22.2% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#41. Montgomery County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $41,032
- Population: 8,525
--- 92.2% white
--- 0.5% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#40. Polk County
- Economic connectedness: 0.7
- Median Income: $43,444
- Population: 19,476
--- 89.8% white
--- 0.4% Black
--- 1.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#39. Prairie County
- Economic connectedness: 0.7
- Median Income: $47,335
- Population: 8,306
--- 85.6% white
--- 11% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
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13 / 50#38. Garland County
- Economic connectedness: 0.7
- Median Income: $49,985
- Population: 99,694
--- 85% white
--- 8.3% Black
--- 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#37. Sharp County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $37,361
- Population: 17,243
--- 93.4% white
--- 1% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#36. Conway County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $45,812
- Population: 20,687
--- 84.3% white
--- 10.4% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
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16 / 50#35. Searcy County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $39,627
- Population: 7,872
--- 90% white
--- 0.4% Black
--- 3.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
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17 / 50#34. Van Buren County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $40,763
- Population: 15,851
--- 93.9% white
--- 1% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#33. Clark County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $45,351
- Population: 21,569
--- 69.9% white
--- 24.4% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#32. Drew County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $42,891
- Population: 17,511
--- 68.4% white
--- 28.9% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#31. Marion County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $41,038
- Population: 16,750
--- 95.4% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
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21 / 50#30. Little River County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $57,614
- Population: 12,104
--- 73.2% white
--- 20.3% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#29. Carroll County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $53,366
- Population: 28,154
--- 84.9% white
--- 0.5% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#28. Stone County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $32,813
- Population: 12,364
--- 91.8% white
--- 0.1% Black
--- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
#27. Lawrence County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $40,746
- Population: 16,292
--- 94% white
--- 1.3% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#26. Randolph County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $42,225
- Population: 18,442
--- 91.2% white
--- 1% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
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26 / 50#25. Independence County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $50,028
- Population: 37,796
--- 86.7% white
--- 1.9% Black
--- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
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27 / 50#24. Logan County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $46,570
- Population: 21,299
--- 89.7% white
--- 1.4% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.7% Asian
#23. Craighead County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $51,788
- Population: 109,875
--- 76.5% white
--- 15.5% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.1% Asian
#22. Fulton County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $36,950
- Population: 12,072
--- 93.6% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.4% Asian
#21. Sebastian County
- Economic connectedness: 0.74
- Median Income: $50,226
- Population: 127,941
--- 71.6% white
--- 6.1% Black
--- 1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 4.5% Asian
#20. Izard County
- Economic connectedness: 0.74
- Median Income: $45,318
- Population: 13,653
--- 90% white
--- 0.9% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
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32 / 50#19. Greene County
- Economic connectedness: 0.74
- Median Income: $51,367
- Population: 45,665
--- 92.7% white
--- 2.4% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
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33 / 50#18. Clay County
- Economic connectedness: 0.74
- Median Income: $39,817
- Population: 14,661
--- 95% white
--- 0.6% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
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34 / 50#17. Pope County
- Economic connectedness: 0.75
- Median Income: $47,322
- Population: 63,234
--- 87.6% white
--- 2.5% Black
--- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#16. Franklin County
- Economic connectedness: 0.75
- Median Income: $42,128
- Population: 17,159
--- 91.8% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 0.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#15. Cleveland County
- Economic connectedness: 0.76
- Median Income: $48,183
- Population: 7,632
--- 84.2% white
--- 14.5% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#14. Newton County
- Economic connectedness: 0.76
- Median Income: $42,817
- Population: 7,343
--- 92.6% white
--- 0.1% Black
--- 2.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
NicholasGeraldinePhotos // Shutterstock
38 / 50#13. Boone County
- Economic connectedness: 0.77
- Median Income: $48,625
- Population: 37,445
--- 95.4% white
--- 0.2% Black
--- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#12. Crawford County
- Economic connectedness: 0.77
- Median Income: $52,057
- Population: 60,483
--- 87.6% white
--- 1.6% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#11. Perry County
- Economic connectedness: 0.77
- Median Income: $47,500
- Population: 10,056
--- 92% white
--- 2.5% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#10. Cleburne County
- Economic connectedness: 0.78
- Median Income: $48,400
- Population: 24,848
--- 95.6% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#9. Baxter County
- Economic connectedness: 0.79
- Median Income: $43,530
- Population: 41,476
--- 94.3% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#8. Saline County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $68,605
- Population: 122,308
--- 86% white
--- 8.1% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.1% Asian
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44 / 50#7. White County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $46,345
- Population: 77,075
--- 89.6% white
--- 4.5% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
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45 / 50#6. Madison County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $47,862
- Population: 16,496
--- 87.2% white
--- 0.1% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#5. Washington County
- Economic connectedness: 0.81
- Median Income: $56,610
- Population: 242,793
--- 72.8% white
--- 3.4% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.7% Asian
#4. Grant County
- Economic connectedness: 0.82
- Median Income: $62,479
- Population: 17,912
--- 93.1% white
--- 2.2% Black
--- 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.3% Asian
#3. Faulkner County
- Economic connectedness: 0.84
- Median Income: $54,845
- Population: 123,191
--- 81.2% white
--- 11.8% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#2. Lonoke County
- Economic connectedness: 0.85
- Median Income: $62,561
- Population: 73,824
--- 87.7% white
--- 5.6% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
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50 / 50#1. Benton County
- Economic connectedness: 0.85
- Median Income: $76,887
- Population: 278,774
--- 77.3% white
--- 1.8% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 4.1% Asian
This story features data reporting and writing by Dom DiFurio and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.
