The Best And Worst Places To Grow Up: How Your Area Compares

GREGOR AISCH, ERIC BUTH, MATTHEW BLOCH, AMANDA COX and KEVIN QUEALY

4 May, 2015

Location matters – enormously. If you’re poor and live in the New York area, it’s better to be in Putnam County than in Manhattan or the Bronx. Not only that, the younger you are when you move to Putnam, the better you will do on average. Children who move at earlier ages are less likely to become single parents, more likely to go to college and more likely to earn more.

Every year a poor child spends in Putnam County adds about $150 tohis or her annual household income at age 26, compared with a childhood spent in the average American county. Over the course of a full childhood, which is up to age 20 for the purposes of this analysis, the difference adds up to about $3,100, or 12 percent, more in average income as a young adult.

Continue reading this report from The New York Times in its entirety below:

The Best And Worst Places To Grow Up: How Your Area Compares