The Census Bureau, with help from researchers at Harvard and Brown, recently published nationwide data that makes it possible to pinpoint, down to the census tract, where children of all backgrounds have the best shot at getting ahead, write Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui for The New York Times.

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Years in the making, this highly detailed research on the economic fortunes of children in nearly every neighborhood in America has shown that where children live matters significantly in whether they prosper as adults.

The variations are interesting. For example, children raised in poor families in some parts of Memphis went on to make just $16,000 a year as adults, while children from families of similar means in parts of the Minneapolis suburbs ended up making four times that amount.

A good example, locally, of these disparities can be seen in southern Chester County, around New Garden and Kennett townships.

Children from poor families who grew up in one particular tract are expected to earn around $22,000 a year in their adult households, while children of similar means who grew up a neighboring tract are expected to earn $38,000 as adults.

An even wider gap can be found in the West Chester area. Children from poor families who grew up in one tract that includes West Ashbridge Street and its intersection with North New and North Church streets are expected to earn approximately $27,000 a year as adults. Meanwhile, in the tract that borders it to the north, children are expected to earn twice as much at $54,000.

Also, in the borough, children who grew up in poor families on the east side of High Street are expected to make $10,000 more as adults than children who grew up poor on the west side of High Street.

“These things are now possible to think about in a different way than you thought about them before,” said Greg Russ, the head of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. “Is opportunity a block away? These are the kind of questions we can ask.”

Click here to read more about how this data can be used to transform neighborhoods in The New York Times.

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