Opportunities for upward mobility vary drastically across North Texas.

Children born in Dallas County in 1980 earned just $38,000, on average, at age 35 in 2015, placing them at the 28th percentile of household income nationally at that time. In Collin County, however, household incomes for 35 year olds in 2015 were in the 90th percentile at about $55,000 (Opportunity Atlas, 2021). In many of these communities, the same trend appears likely to continue: higher rates of upward mobility for those in more resourced communities and lower rates in other communities, often ones of color, that experience a cyclical churn of economic and social stress.

If this system continues, the social and economic fabric of North Texas is at risk. Burgeoning growth across the region has brought thousands of new residents to North Texas residents in the last decade, but income growth has been concentrated in communities that already provide better odds for upward mobility. Without strong programs that boost incomes for all residents in North Texas, including expanding access to educational opportunities, geography, race, and gender will continue to dictate the chances for upward mobility across the region.

We want to help

We want to help make that information available to as many people as we can - community leaders, policymakers, advocates, and entrepreneurs - so that they can tie that research into our current knowledge of North Texas as they create new solutions to foster upward economic mobility for everyone who calls North Texas home.