Cross-Class Friendships Boost Upward Economic Mobility
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Cross-Class Friendships Boost Upward Economic Mobility
- Research indicates that children from low-income families who grow up in areas with strong cross-class friendships can earn an average of 20% more in adulthood.
- This finding comes from a 2022 study by Harvard economist Raj Chetty and his team at Opportunity Insights, utilizing anonymized Facebook data to analyze social connections.
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New research highlights the significant role of cross-class friendships in fostering upward economic mobility, particularly for individuals from low socioeconomic backgrounds. A study published in 2022 by Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist and director of Opportunity Insights, and his collaborators, utilized anonymized data from 21 billion Facebook friendships to analyze social capital across communities. Their findings indicate that “economic connectedness”—the degree of interaction between low- and high-income individuals—is a strong predictor of a child’s likelihood of rising out of poverty.
Specifically, children from low-income families who grow up in areas with high economic connectedness could see their adult incomes increase by an average of 20% compared to those in areas with fewer such connections. This translates to a substantial earnings bonus. For example, a UK study in March 2025, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and building on Chetty’s work, found that low-income children in areas with many cross-class friendships earned 38% more as adults, or approximately £5,100 per year more on average.
The researchers suggest several mechanisms through which these connections facilitate mobility, including improved access to job opportunities, valuable information about college applications and career paths, and a broader sense of aspiration. This “bridging social capital” contrasts with “bonding social capital,” which refers to connections within similar socioeconomic groups, and has been found to have a more significant impact on upward mobility.
The studies also revealed that social networks are often stratified by socioeconomic class, with people tending to befriend others with similar incomes. The lack of cross-class friendships is particularly pronounced in distressed communities and communities of color. To help communities address this, Opportunity Insights launched the Social Capital Atlas, a tool that provides data on economic connectedness for various zip codes, high schools, and colleges, enabling targeted interventions to foster more diverse social interactions.