Declines in absolute mobility are greatest at the top since 1940, middle since 1950

Percentage-point difference in the share of children earning more than their parents in the 1980 cohort versus the 1950, 1960, and 1970 cohorts, by parental income percentile

Source: Source: Authors' calculations using data from Chetty et al., "The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940." Science 356(6336): 398-406, 2017. Data downloaded from www.equality-of-opportunity.org/data/ Get the data