Though population has generally flowed from low- to high-income states, leading to better employment opportunities and higher per capital income in a region, in the past two decades, access to high-productivity regions has been accompanied by declines in worker mobility and increasing housing affordability barriers. New high-productivity jobs are located in metropolitan areas with higher housing costs that attract high-skilled workers, forcing lower-skilled workers into lower-opportunity regions. City revitalization and the resulting gentrification is driven by educated, young people who prefer to be centrally located for proximity to their jobs. This new study analyzes these new trends and look at how access to housing affects people’s access to opportunity, including education and good jobs. Two key findings were: In low- and high-growth regions, rents and housing prices are increasing faster than income. The need for access to good jobs in central locations that is driving the lack of affordable housing shows that access to housing and access to opportunity are inextricably linked, which affects future inter-generational mobility. Policies need to address this issue by increasing affordable housing in opportunity areas. For more information click here.