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 Washington 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 / 39#39. Adams County
- Economic connectedness: 0.58
- Median Income: $54,573
- Population: 20,353
--- 53.9% white
--- 0.4% Black
--- 2.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
#38. Yakima County
- Economic connectedness: 0.6
- Median Income: $58,380
- Population: 255,151
--- 65.2% white
--- 1% Black
--- 3.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
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3 / 39#37. Franklin County
- Economic connectedness: 0.63
- Median Income: $72,452
- Population: 95,313
--- 61.9% white
--- 2.5% Black
--- 1.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2% Asian
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4 / 39#36. Grant County
- Economic connectedness: 0.67
- Median Income: $63,566
- Population: 97,874
--- 63.5% white
--- 1.1% Black
--- 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1% Asian
#35. Okanogan County
- Economic connectedness: 0.68
- Median Income: $51,992
- Population: 41,966
--- 69.6% white
--- 0.2% Black
--- 9.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.5% Asian
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6 / 39#34. Grays Harbor County
- Economic connectedness: 0.72
- Median Income: $53,615
- Population: 74,737
--- 85.1% white
--- 1.3% Black
--- 3.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.4% Asian
#33. Douglas County
- Economic connectedness: 0.73
- Median Income: $68,979
- Population: 42,622
--- 66.3% white
--- 0.5% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.7% Asian
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8 / 39#32. Ferry County
- Economic connectedness: 0.75
- Median Income: $45,907
- Population: 7,198
--- 72.9% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 15.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.2% Asian
#31. Pend Oreille County
- Economic connectedness: 0.77
- Median Income: $59,134
- Population: 13,302
--- 86.7% white
--- 0.3% Black
--- 2.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.4% Asian
#30. Asotin County
- Economic connectedness: 0.78
- Median Income: $57,263
- Population: 22,285
--- 91.1% white
--- 0.9% Black
--- 1.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#29. Chelan County
- Economic connectedness: 0.79
- Median Income: $64,895
- Population: 78,508
--- 72.3% white
--- 0.4% Black
--- 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
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12 / 39#28. Lewis County
- Economic connectedness: 0.79
- Median Income: $60,581
- Population: 81,214
--- 86.2% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#27. Mason County
- Economic connectedness: 0.79
- Median Income: $66,325
- Population: 64,964
--- 81% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 1.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.9% Asian
#26. Stevens County
- Economic connectedness: 0.79
- Median Income: $57,206
- Population: 46,057
--- 88.3% white
--- 0.4% Black
--- 4.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.6% Asian
#25. Pacific County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $54,598
- Population: 22,974
--- 83.4% white
--- 0.6% Black
--- 2.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.7% Asian
#24. Walla Walla County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $63,686
- Population: 62,168
--- 80% white
--- 1.8% Black
--- 1.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.6% Asian
#23. Cowlitz County
- Economic connectedness: 0.8
- Median Income: $64,506
- Population: 109,457
--- 86.7% white
--- 0.9% Black
--- 1.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.2% Asian
#22. Clallam County
- Economic connectedness: 0.81
- Median Income: $60,044
- Population: 76,727
--- 84.9% white
--- 1% Black
--- 4.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.5% Asian
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19 / 39#21. Benton County
- Economic connectedness: 0.85
- Median Income: $76,612
- Population: 204,551
--- 78% white
--- 1.7% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 3% Asian
#20. Klickitat County
- Economic connectedness: 0.85
- Median Income: $59,583
- Population: 22,478
--- 89.6% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 1.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.4% Asian
#19. Skamania County
- Economic connectedness: 0.87
- Median Income: $75,565
- Population: 11,973
--- 91.1% white
--- 0.1% Black
--- 2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.1% Asian
#18. Spokane County
- Economic connectedness: 0.87
- Median Income: $64,079
- Population: 531,477
--- 85.8% white
--- 1.8% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.2% Asian
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23 / 39#17. Columbia County
- Economic connectedness: 0.89
- Median Income: $64,688
- Population: 3,969
--- 84.8% white
--- 1.5% Black
--- 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.1% Asian
#16. Skagit County
- Economic connectedness: 0.9
- Median Income: $75,308
- Population: 128,228
--- 79.4% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 1.8% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.9% Asian
#15. Garfield County
- Economic connectedness: 0.9
- Median Income: $50,625
- Population: 2,278
--- 93% white
--- 0% Black
--- 0% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 2.5% Asian
#14. Wahkiakum County
- Economic connectedness: 0.92
- Median Income: $54,422
- Population: 4,373
--- 86.2% white
--- 1.3% Black
--- 0.3% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.6% Asian
#13. Clark County
- Economic connectedness: 0.95
- Median Income: $82,719
- Population: 496,494
--- 81.4% white
--- 1.9% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 4.7% Asian
#12. Thurston County
- Economic connectedness: 0.96
- Median Income: $81,501
- Population: 290,642
--- 77.6% white
--- 2.9% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 5.8% Asian
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29 / 39#11. Lincoln County
- Economic connectedness: 0.97
- Median Income: $62,810
- Population: 10,798
--- 92.6% white
--- 0.7% Black
--- 1.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 0.8% Asian
#10. Pierce County
- Economic connectedness: 0.97
- Median Income: $82,574
- Population: 910,225
--- 69.7% white
--- 6.9% Black
--- 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 6.5% Asian
#9. Jefferson County
- Economic connectedness: 0.99
- Median Income: $59,968
- Population: 32,590
--- 88.9% white
--- 0.6% Black
--- 1.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.6% Asian
#8. Kitsap County
- Economic connectedness: 1.02
- Median Income: $84,600
- Population: 273,072
--- 78.7% white
--- 2.8% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 5% Asian
#7. Whatcom County
- Economic connectedness: 1.02
- Median Income: $70,011
- Population: 224,533
--- 81.3% white
--- 1% Black
--- 2.4% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 4.2% Asian
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34 / 39#6. King County
- Economic connectedness: 1.06
- Median Income: $106,326
- Population: 2,240,876
--- 60.5% white
--- 6.4% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 18.8% Asian
#5. Kittitas County
- Economic connectedness: 1.07
- Median Income: $64,134
- Population: 44,147
--- 84.8% white
--- 1% Black
--- 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.4% Asian
#4. Island County
- Economic connectedness: 1.11
- Median Income: $75,628
- Population: 85,938
--- 82% white
--- 2.7% Black
--- 1.1% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 4.6% Asian
#3. San Juan County
- Economic connectedness: 1.11
- Median Income: $68,577
- Population: 17,631
--- 90.5% white
--- 0.9% Black
--- 0.7% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 1.3% Asian
#2. Whitman County
- Economic connectedness: 1.14
- Median Income: $43,613
- Population: 48,197
--- 80.4% white
--- 2.1% Black
--- 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 8.3% Asian
#1. Snohomish County
- Economic connectedness: 1.2
- Median Income: $95,618
- Population: 820,024
--- 71% white
--- 3.4% Black
--- 0.9% American Indian and Alaska Native
--- 11.7% Asian
This story features data reporting and writing by Dom DiFurio and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 50 states.
