Changing Opportunity: Rising Local Wealth Inequality and Growing Class Gaps in Income Mobility

Manuel Schechtl, Florencia Torche Sociological Science June 15, 2026 10.15195/v13.a25 Abstract Recent research documents widening class gaps in intergenerational income mobility in the United States. Children from low-income families in more recent cohorts attain lower incomes than their counterparts in earlier cohorts, while no comparable decline is observed among children from high-income families. This study examines whether rising local wealth inequality contributes to this growing class div