Opportunities to create net worth and improve financial security strengthen people’s ability to weather economic shocks, invest in physical health, and build more sustainable wealth, all of which support their economic success and sense of power and autonomy. Children from wealthier families also tend to have better academic, health, and behavioral outcomes than children from low- or no-wealth families.
Evidence on the Relationship between Wealth-Building Opportunities and Upward Mobility Outcomes
As of December 2021, researchers have documented the following connections between this predictor and upward mobility. Asterisk (*) indicates primary reference.
- Families with no or low amounts of wealth are vulnerable to economic shocks, which may result in missed payments and greater reliance on public benefits (McKernan et al. 2016). People with limited financial resources also report poorer health and have a higher risk of disease (Woolf et al. 2015).
- Spilerman (2000)* highlights some of the benefits of wealth versus earnings: (1) wealth eliminates the trade-off between leisure and work; (2) income from wealth does not decline with work stoppage; (3) wealth can be enjoyed without necessarily being consumed, such as by owning a home, although it comes with association fees, mortgage payments, property taxes, and maintenance costs; (4) wealth is taxed at lower rates than labor-market income; and (5) in an economic crisis, the wealth principal can be consumed. The author also discusses the challenges of measuring wealth, finding data sources with wealth measures, analyzing trends in wealth and stratification, and providing the evidence connecting wealth to intergenerational wealth transfers and inheritance and their role in socioeconomic inequality.
- Brown and colleagues (2024) find that, in 2022, white family wealth was six times greater than Black and Hispanic family wealth. These disparities have persisted for decades, and were greater in 2022 than in 1983, when the average white family had about 5 times the wealth of the average Black and Hispanic family. On average, white families accumulate more wealth over their lives than Black and Hispanic families in the same age group, widening the wealth gap at older ages. Higher levels of wealth have been linked to improved health (Pollack et al. 2013; Schiller, Lucas, and Peregoy 2012, table 21; Woolf et al. 2015). Pollack and colleagues (2013) find that being in the lowest quartile of wealth is correlated with three to five times higher chances of poor or fair health levels for older Hispanic people and both younger and older Black and white people.
- The Stanford Center on Longevity (2018) report that the percentage of white people who are able to purchase a home by age 30 is significantly greater than that of Hispanic people and nearly twice that of Black people. Furthermore, these trends persist over time. For the third quarter of 2021, the homeownership rate for Black people in the US was 44 percent, compared with 74 percent for white people (US Census Bureau 2024).
Promising Local Policy Interventions
Research from both Urban and others in the field suggests the following policies could help communities improve this predictor. These suggestions are not exhaustive, and communities should work with residents and leaders to identify solutions that are best suited to their local contexts.
- Establishing a local reparations program to make amends for historical harms and address the structural roots of ongoing wealth disparities.
- Creating matched savings accounts for residents with low and moderate wealth.
- Investing in baby bonds and other child development accounts.
- Providing local entrepreneurs and small-business owners with the supports they need to succeed, including capital and technical assistance. (This may also improve the Employment Opportunities and Opportunities for Income predictors.)
- Helping families with low and moderate incomes overcome barriers to homeownership, such as by providing down payment assistance. (This may also improve the Housing Affordability and Racial Diversity predictors.)
- Creating programs that allow renters to earn equity through their rent payments and share in the long-term appreciation of their homes.
- Adopting community wealth-building strategies, such as establishing a public bank, supporting cooperatives and worker-owned businesses, implementing progressive procurement policies, and supporting community land trusts and other models of collective ownership. (This may also improve the Housing Affordability and Employment Opportunities predictors.)
Mobility Dimensions Engaged
- Economic success
- Power and autonomy