Most Phoenix millennials make less than the generation before them

Americans born to low-income families are faring worse than the last generation in most major U.S. cities , including Phoenix, a new analysis found.

Why it matters: Intergenerational mobility — the idea that each generation will do better than the last — is core to the American dream, but far from a guarantee.

Driving the news: Phoenix residents born to low-income families in 1992 earned less at age 27 than 27-year-olds born in 1978 in the same circumstances, according to an analysis from the Census Bureau and Opportunity Insights , a research group at Harvard University.

By the numbers: Adjusted for inflation, the average annual income in low-income households went from $32,500 for those born in 1978 to $29,700 for those born in 1992.

• That's nearly a 9% drop.

The intrigue: By 1992, the upward mobility rates of white kids born into low-income families on the coasts and in the Southwest had fallen to rates comparable to those in Appalachia and other areas that historically offered the least advancement, researchers found.

• Low-income white families in Phoenix saw the greatest decrease in household incomes between the two generations at about 12%.
• Black families saw a 1.4% decrease and Asian families saw a 4.4% decrease while Hipanic and Native American families saw slight increases (0.34% and 1.5% respectively).

Yes, but: White Phoenix residents born in 1992 still made more at age 27 than their Black, Hispanic and Native American peers because the initial income disparities between those groups were so large, according to the report.

The bottom line: While intergenerational mobility declined the most for low-income individuals, researchers found Phoenix residents in every economic group except the very highest earners brought in less at age 27 than the previous generation.