DeKalb County Hinders Future of Poor Youngsters: Study

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Young DeKalb County residents living in economically disadvantaged families will see very little income mobility compared to other poor children across the country, according to a new study from the New York Times.

The study, released on Monday, reports that children living in 25th percentile income families will have earned around $1,220 less in income by the age of 26 compared to children living in similar conditions across the country. This puts DeKalb in the 20th percentile of income mobility for the country’s poorest children.

Despite the seemingly low rating, DeKalb actually fares better than many other metro Atlanta counties. The study puts DeKalb in fourth place in the economic mobility index, only surpassed by Fayette, Paulding, and Henry counties. Fulton County is in 13th place, while Cobb County is in 12th place.

The data suggests that DeKalb’s poor boys will make $340 less than their peers, besting only 30% of the population. DeKalb’s poor girls will be making $2,280 less than poor girls in other parts of the country, and will only make more money than 13 percent of the sampled population.

DeKalb County is not a good place for a girl to grow up financially speaking, the study claims. Data suggests that girls growing up in DeKalb will make significantly less by the time they’re 26 than girls who are currently growing up in other parts of the country. Only girls from low-income families can expect their future incomes to surpass the tenth percentile, while rich girls will be making less than 96 percent of rich girls growing up elsewhere.

It gets better for DeKalb’s children as their families’ economic status improves; middle-income kids will only make $670 less than their peers nationwide, with boys actually earning $950 more than their peers by the time they’re age 26. High-income kids will make about $40 less than their colleagues, while “one percent” children will make around $490 more than their peers across the country.

The best county in the metro area for improving children’s economic mobility is Fayette County, while Spalding County children will be some of the worst off in the country by the time they are 26.

Read more about the study at The New York Times.