Tracking the same households over time shows significant income mobility. Mark Perry

Below are some of the main findings about the income mobility of American households over a short, six-year period from 2001 to 2007 based on the Minneapolis Fed study:

1. Looking across the first row of data in the table from left to right, we can see that for those U.S. households that were in the lowest earnings quintile (bottom 20 percent) in 2001, only 56 percent of those household remained in that same income quintile six years later in 2007, and almost half—44 percent—had moved up to one of the four higher income quintiles by 2007. Five percent of the lowest-income households in 2001 had moved up to one of the top two quintiles by 2007.

2. Looking across the fifth row of data from right to left reveals that of those households in the highest earnings quintile (top 20 percent) in 2001, only 66 percent remained there six years later and 34 percent had moved down to one of the four lower income quintile by 2007. Five percent of those highest-income households had moved all the way to the bottom income quintile in only six years.

3. For those households in the middle-income quintile in 2001, 42 percent remained in the same quintile in 20007, about one-third (32 percent) moved to a higher-income quintile, and slightly more than one-fourth (27 percent) moved to a lower-income quintile.

4. The bottom row in the chart shows that for households in the second, middle, and fourth income quintiles in 2001, more than half of each group moved to a different earnings quintile by 2007 (61 percent, 58 percent, and 55 percent, respectively).

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