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Lower-income Utahns have more higher-income friends than do residents of almost any other state, according to a study published last week in the journal Nature.
Why it matters: Children from low-income families who have wealthier friends are more likely to have economic mobility as adults, the study found.
Details: The study analyzed friendships of 70 million Facebook users. Researchers found that if low-income children grew up in neighborhoods where 70% of their friends were rich, their future incomes would be 20% higher than their counterparts who grew up without these bonds across class lines.
By the numbers: Among Utahns in the bottom half of the income distribution, 51.5% of their friends were in the upper half, the study reported.
Zoom in: Lower-income residents in Morgan County had the state's highest rate of friendships with wealthier residents, at 65% — the fourth-highest of any county in the nation.
Yes, but: In some cases, lower-income residents may have had high rates of friendship with wealthier neighbors simply because the wealthy far outnumber them.
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