4. North Carolina
> Absolute mobility change: 14%
> Percent with upward mobility: 26%
> Percent with downward mobility: 28%
North Carolina is tied with Mississippi for having the lowest relative upward mobility rate in the country — eight percentage points below the national average. Its absolute mobility change is three percentage points lower than the national average. The state’s unemployment rate is particularly high, at 9.7%. It also has a relatively low high school graduation rate of 84.7%.
3. Oklahoma
> Absolute mobility change: 14%
> Percent with upward mobility: 30%
> Percent with downward mobility: 33%
Oklahoma is one of just three states in the country, along with Louisiana and South Carolina, that is among the worst for absolute mobility, upward mobility and downward mobility at the same time. Unemployment is extremely low in the state, at just 5.4%. At the same time, poverty is high, and median income is extremely low. A full 18.9% of the state’s population lacks health insurance.
2. South Carolina
> Absolute mobility change: 12%
> Percent with upward mobility: 26%
> Percent with downward mobility: 34%
Absolute mobility, relative upward mobility and relative downward mobility are all significantly worse in South Carolina than in the country as a whole. The state is relatively poor. It has the seventh-lowest median household income in the country and the eighth-highest poverty rate. South Carolina also has one of the highest unemployment rates, at 8.9%. On top of all this, the state has the sixth-lowest labor participation rate in the country, at 59.3%.
1. Texas
> Absolute mobility change: 15%
> Percent with upward mobility: 31%
> Percent with downward mobility: 30%
Texas is tied for California as the state with the worst education attainment in the country — just 80.7% of residents over 24 have high school diplomas. The state also has the ninth-highest poverty rate in the U.S. and the highest percentage of residents in the country without health insurance, at nearly one in four. Texas has an upward mobility score of just 31% compared to the national average of 34%.
-Michael B. Sauter, Charles B. Stockdale
