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 New Mexico 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.
StockPhotoAstur // Shutterstock
1 / 29#29. McKinley County
- Economic connectedness: 0.42
- Median Income: $40,262
- Population: 72,946
--- 11.5% white
--- 0.5% Black
--- 75.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#28. Rio Arriba County
- Economic connectedness: 0.45
- Median Income: $46,994
- Population: 40,347
--- 41.4% white
--- 0.6% Black
--- 15.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
Rosemarie Mosteller // Shutterstock
3 / 29#27. Luna County
- Economic connectedness: 0.46
- Median Income: $33,914
- Population: 25,282
--- 74.6% white
--- 1.8% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#26. Cibola County
- Economic connectedness: 0.47
- Median Income: $47,300
- Population: 27,284
--- 44.4% white
--- 1.6% Black
--- 42.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#25. San Miguel County
- Economic connectedness: 0.5
- Median Income: $36,492
- Population: 27,357
--- 58.5% white
--- 1.6% Black
--- 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#24. Socorro County
- Economic connectedness: 0.53
- Median Income: $38,242
- Population: 16,605
--- 66.8% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 12% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.9% Asian
#23. Valencia County
- Economic connectedness: 0.55
- Median Income: $53,752
- Population: 75,992
--- 68.7% white
--- 1.6% Black
--- 4.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.5% Asian
Underawesternsky // Shutterstock
8 / 29#22. Grant County
- Economic connectedness: 0.57
- Median Income: $39,429
- Population: 28,178
--- 80.2% white
--- 0.9% Black
--- 1.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
Cheri Alguire // Shutterstock
9 / 29#21. Chaves County
- Economic connectedness: 0.57
- Median Income: $47,620
- Population: 65,014
--- 74.5% white
--- 1.5% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.1% Asian
#20. Quay County
- Economic connectedness: 0.58
- Median Income: $33,067
- Population: 8,675
--- 75.3% white
--- 2.5% Black
--- 2.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#19. Sierra County
- Economic connectedness: 0.58
- Median Income: $35,939
- Population: 11,512
--- 82% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 3.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#18. Guadalupe County
- Economic connectedness: 0.59
- Median Income: $35,409
- Population: 4,465
--- 61% white
--- 1.9% Black
--- 8.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#17. San Juan County
- Economic connectedness: 0.6
- Median Income: $47,485
- Population: 122,912
--- 47% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 39.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
David Langford // Shutterstock
14 / 29#16. Doña Ana County
- Economic connectedness: 0.6
- Median Income: $47,151
- Population: 218,157
--- 67.6% white
--- 1.9% Black
--- 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
Jimack // Shutterstock
15 / 29#15. Santa Fe County
- Economic connectedness: 0.63
- Median Income: $64,423
- Population: 153,632
--- 74.1% white
--- 1% Black
--- 3.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#14. Hidalgo County
- Economic connectedness: 0.63
- Median Income: $46,097
- Population: 4,214
--- 77.6% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 1.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
#13. Colfax County
- Economic connectedness: 0.64
- Median Income: $39,483
- Population: 12,406
--- 79.3% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 1.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#12. Torrance County
- Economic connectedness: 0.66
- Median Income: $44,819
- Population: 15,150
--- 74.2% white
--- 2.5% Black
--- 1.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#11. Bernalillo County
- Economic connectedness: 0.66
- Median Income: $56,920
- Population: 674,919
--- 65.6% white
--- 2.9% Black
--- 4.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.7% Asian
#10. Curry County
- Economic connectedness: 0.67
- Median Income: $51,199
- Population: 48,716
--- 62.6% white
--- 5.3% Black
--- 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.4% Asian
Gestalt Imagery // Shutterstock
21 / 29#9. Lincoln County
- Economic connectedness: 0.68
- Median Income: $47,247
- Population: 20,084
--- 83.4% white
--- 0.8% Black
--- 2.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
Robin Nations // Shutterstock
22 / 29#8. Roosevelt County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $47,897
- Population: 19,223
--- 70% white
--- 2.3% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#7. Lea County
- Economic connectedness: 0.69
- Median Income: $62,319
- Population: 72,743
--- 71.5% white
--- 4.2% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#6. Taos County
- Economic connectedness: 0.71
- Median Income: $49,481
- Population: 34,322
--- 72.1% white
--- 0.1% Black
--- 6.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#5. Union County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $37,443
- Population: 4,122
--- 76.9% white
--- 1.2% Black
--- 4.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0% Asian
Kristi Blokhin // Shutterstock
26 / 29#4. Otero County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $46,949
- Population: 67,298
--- 69.6% white
--- 3.4% Black
--- 6.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#3. Eddy County
- Economic connectedness: 0.74
- Median Income: $67,759
- Population: 61,096
--- 78.2% white
--- 1.5% Black
--- 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
turtix // Shutterstock
28 / 29#2. Sandoval County
- Economic connectedness: 0.75
- Median Income: $68,947
- Population: 147,327
--- 65.3% white
--- 2.2% Black
--- 12.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.6% Asian
Joseph Sohm // Shutterstock
29 / 29#1. Los Alamos County
- Economic connectedness: 1.12
- Median Income: $123,677
- Population: 19,169
--- 81.3% white
--- 1.1% Black
--- 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 5.4% Asian
This story features data reporting and writing by Dom DiFurio and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.
