FINANCES OF FRIENDSHIP IN CHICAGO
Uptown has most friendships between lower- and higher-income residents in city, new study finds
From Uptown to Beverly, Chicagoans notoriously take great pride in their neighborhood, and a new study found that neighborhood friendships offer one of the strongest predictors for upward economic mobility.
The key finding was that low-income residents had a better chance of improving their economic status if they grew up in a neighborhood where it was easy to become friends with high-income people.
Researchers from Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau used Facebook data and anonymized tax records to examine the role cross-class friendships — or “economic connectedness” — have on future income.
Uptown is one of the highestranked areas in the country in terms of cross-class friendships: About 63% of low-income friendships in the 60613 ZIP code are with high-income people, the study estimates. In West Englewood, that figure drops to 24%.
But what makes cross-class friendships possible in the first place?
The researchers looked into two determinants of economic connectedness: the share of high-income residents in a low-income neighborhood (or exposure), and the likelihood of friendships among these economic groups (or friending bias), which they measured with social media network data.
For example, low-income residents in the 60625 ZIP code in Lincoln Square and the 60638 ZIP code in Clearing have a similar percentage of high-income friends. But the paths to make friends are very different. In Lincoln Square, lowincome residents are more likely to meet high-income people, but they are a lot less likely to become friends. In Clearing, low-income residents meet fewer high-income people, but they are more likely to become friends.
Exposure and friending bias work in opposition: The higher the exposure, the more likely the crossclass friendships, but the higher the friend bias, the lower their chances.
Having rich friends as a child doesn’t guarantee you’ll be making more than your parents when you grow up, but according to this study, it sure helps.