A front page article in today’s New York Times highlights a new study by Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren, two Harvard University economists:

Based on the earnings records of millions of families that moved with children, [the Chetty and Hendren study] finds that poor children who grow up in some cities and towns have sharply better odds of escaping poverty than similar poor children elsewhere.

The study concludes that Snohomish and King Counties are relatively good places to grow up poor. Chetty and Hendren estimate that an additional year of childhood lived in in Snohomish County adds 0.72 percent to earnings at age 26 relative to the national average, while an additional year in King County adds 0.57 percent. By this measure, Snohomish County ranks 2nd best among the 100 most populous U.S. counties, and King County ranks 7th best. Here is a table from the executive summary of the study:

Given recent events, it’s not surprising to see that Baltimore City is last among the 100 most populous counties. (Baltimore is an independent city, which is not part of a separate county.)

Over 20 years these small percentages add up to real money: gains of $3,740 and $2,960 in annual earnings for people who spent the first 20 years of their lives in Snohomish and King Counties respectively, a loss of $4,510 for someone who spent those 20 years in Baltimore.

The Times has a nice interactive feature with which you can explore Chetty and Hendren’s results by county. Click on the image below.

The Chetty and Hendren paper is available here; it’s executive summary is here.