Upward Income Mobility in the 50 Largest U.S. Cities

Rank*        City                Odds of Reaching Top Fifth
                                       Starting from Bottom Fifth

1    Salt Lake City, UT                11.5%
2    San Jose, CA                        11.2%
3    San Francisco, CA                11.2%
4    Seattle, WA                          10.4%
5    San Diego, CA                     10.4%
            ---
46    Columbus, OH                    5.1%
47    Detroit, MI                          5.1%
48    Indianapolis, IN                  4.8%
49    Charlotte, NC                     4.3%
50    Atlanta, GA                        4.0%

*A ranking of 1 denotes highest income mobility and a ranking of 50 denotes lowest income mobility.

Source: Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Kline, P. and Saez, E. (2013). The Economic Impacts of Tax Expenditures: Evidence from Spatial Variation Across the U.S. The Equality of Opportunity Project. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/17xLodP