Here’s the chart:

__2020 Households That Make It into the Top 20%.png

This chart is based on research by Thomas A Hirshcl and Mark R. Rank, who crunched decades of tax data to gauge the fortunes of thousands of US households over time.

Bottom line: Yes, some US households get stuck at the bottom - and they need help - but, overall, social mobility is alive and well in the US. It just takes time to move up that ladder. Of course, skills, education, work behaviors and luck figure into the equation as well. But the point remains: most US households get there eventually.

Next: Income and Age

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Reference:

Hirschl TA, Rank MR (2015) The Life Course Dynamics of Affluence. PLOS ONE 10(1): e0116370. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0116370