In early 2019, Urban formed a working group of distinguished academics from diverse disciplines to help us explore the most seminal evidence on predictive factors that influence mobility from poverty for adults, families, and children.

We vetted the strongest collective predictors of long-term mobility from poverty and developed a set of evidence-based predictors, along with specific, short- and medium-term measures for each predictor, that local change agents can use to assess and guide their efforts to advance upward mobility. While the working group ultimately selected 24 predictors to include in the Upward Mobility Framework, it systematically reviewed more than 60 factors that influence mobility from poverty to arrive at this set of predictors.

This document aggregates 52 literature reviews—which we refer to as “predictor assessments”—that Urban researchers conducted to understand the strength of the evidence linking these predictors to outcomes such as physical health and civic engagement, which are, in turn, connected to long-term upward mobility.

These assessments were last updated in December 2021. They may evolve over time as the Framework evolves or as we update the research on existing predictors.