Neighborhood Land Uses as Predictors of the Upward Mobility of Poor Youth

Abstract

Land uses within the neighborhood where poor youths reside have important effects on their development and therefore may predict their welfare as adults. Mean household incomes as adults and teenage birth rates of youth growing up in poor households are predicted based upon the land uses within the neighborhood they occupied as teenagers. Controlling for an extensive set of neighborhood socioeconomic and demographic variables, land uses are found to add to our understanding of the characteristics of places with upward mobility. Differences in land use between white and minority youth neighborhoods are also found to explain racial gaps in adult outcomes.