Children from low-income families who grow up in La Plata County are likely to have more prosperous futures ahead of them than many of their peers across the country, according to an April nationwide study.

By the time La Plata County natives from poor families turn 26, they are likely to be making 12 percent more than those with similar incomes, according to data from The Equality of Opportunity Project.

The county also is ranked in the top 20 percent of counties nationwide for upward mobility for children from low-income families.

Harvard University economists Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren analyzed tax records from families of more than 5 million children between 1996 to 2012 to reach their conclusions.

The researchers found five factors contribute to the success of these children: less segregation by income and race, lower levels of income inequality, better schools, lower rates of violent crime and a larger share of two-parent households.

“It wasn’t surprising that La Plata came out where it did,” said Sarah Hughes, research director at the Colorado Children’s Campaign.

Children’s Campaign data, which measures school performance, births to single women and families in poverty, confirms the findings of the national study.

To Hughes, it helps show that “where you live can determine how you live.”

In our culture, a lot of emphasis is placed on an individual’s decisions. But the study found that when a child moved to a town such as Durango that has better schools and other positive social factors, every year spent in that environment increased his or her earning potential.

Scott Smith, who works as a youth advocate at La Plata Youth Services, sees these social factors influencing teenagers every day.

The trauma from experiencing or watching a violent crime or domestic abuse, in particular, can be a setback, he said.

“It really affects their daily function,” he said.

This can include affecting their ability to make good decisions and keep jobs later in life.

Smith also noted that Durango’s integration of social classes helps give kids living in poverty more opportunities and resources to succeed.

In the eyes of economist and advocate with the local It’s About Kids core committee, Sarah Wilhelm, greater integration, income equality and good schools show the power of policy and the historical racial biases.

For example, across Colorado and Utah, many low-income children grew up to earn more than their peers.

But in Arizona, New Mexico and most of the South, the researchers did not find the same income mobility.

“Current and centuries of past discrimination … have conspired to create lower educational and lower income outcomes for people who are in minorities,” Wilhelm said.

La Plata County does not struggle with the same level of racial disparity and income inequality. But Wilhelm sees more potential for improvement.

“The things that make us a good place, we can invest in,” she said.

For example, tax reform can help control income inequality. In Colorado, those who make $22,000 a year or less pay about 8.4 percent of their income in taxes. Those who earn more than $104,000 pay around 6.4 percent of their total income.

This leaves low-income families with proportionately less income to spend on food, housing and transportation.

“It definitely affects your ability to move out of poverty,” Wilhelm said.

Investing in education, particularly quality preschool, also can improve an individual’s experience throughout school, reduce community crime rates and increase earning potential, she said.

Policy aside, for teens in poverty, Smith said caring adults can make the biggest difference in encouraging them to make good decisions.

“That’s what really seems to get them through,” he said.

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Making more than mom and dad

Students living in Southwest Colorado have a fighting chance at making more than their parents, a Harvard University study shows.
It’s a study that reinforces the hopes of local high school students and recent graduates with big plans for the future.
The likelihood for a student to rise above his or her parents’ social class is far more related to where they live than other factors, researchers found in 2014. This same group more recently completed the county-by-county study on upward mobility.
The study found that a child who grew up in a family with an income of less than $60,000 on average ends up earning more than their parents, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.
The chances aren’t as good for those children in higher income brackets that they will rise above their parents, but their earning potential remains strong.
This is good news for Durango High School sophomore Nathan Brinkley, who plans to pilot cargo planes.
“There is a very good possibility I’ll make more than my mom,” he said. He hopes to make about $300,000 a year and best his mom’s salary as a pharmacist.
When asked if it was likely he would make more than his parents, DHS student Aiden Urban is banking on economic trends.
“I imagine so, just because of inflation,” he said.
But he also plans to be a criminal justice or civil attorney. His parents are Jeff and Lynn Urban, a laundromat owner and president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Colorado, respectively.
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