BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
A new study has found that friendships bridging economic divides can meaningfully improve social mobility—and even boost future income.
Children from low-income families who grow up in areas where friendships span income groups are likely to earn significantly more per year as adults, according to the research. The findings suggest that economically connected communities—where richer and poorer residents are more likely to know one another—offer long-term social and economic benefits.
The study is part of a broader project looking at how to grow social capital in the UK. It was conducted by an international team of researchers from the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), Meta, and Stanford University. Their analysis combined anonymized Facebook data from 20 million UK adults with government records.
Where friendships are formed
Researchers identified three key places where cross-class friendships tend to emerge: schools, universities, and recreational groups like amateur sports teams. These settings provide shared experiences that can help dissolve social barriers and connect people across income lines.
Dr Antonio Silva, principal investigator at BIT, explained: “When we do statistical analysis where we look at various other factors – such as education, health, income – economic connectedness still comes out as the second strongest predictor of social mobility after income.”
In the study, children from low-income households who grew up in the 10 percent most economically connected local authority areas earned £5,100 ($6,600) more annually than peers raised in the 10 percent least connected areas.
Affluent areas, different outcomes
Interestingly, some wealthier areas show higher levels of connectedness than others. For example, Kingston upon Thames and Canterbury have similarly affluent populations, but low-income residents in Kingston have 10 percent more high-income friends on average.
To better understand this phenomenon, researchers visited neighborhoods with similar income levels but different levels of economic connectedness. They went in blind, without knowing the area’s score, and simply spent the day observing and talking to locals. “What was fascinating was that every single time, they got it right,” Silva said.
Better connected, better off
The benefits of these friendships go beyond financial outcomes. A survey linked to the study found that people with more cross-class friendships also reported higher levels of happiness and trust in others. The UK as a whole also appears to be somewhat less economically segregated than the United States. For example, the UK’s lower-income half of the population has 47 percent of its friendships with people from the higher-income half, compared with 39 percent in the US.
A path forward
The study opens the door for policies that promote economic mixing through education and community activities. “It opens up a new opportunity to develop and scale-up ways of promoting connectedness across economic lines,” said Silva. That could mean expanding access to sports clubs, encouraging university enrollment among lower-income students, or designing school systems that bring together children from diverse backgrounds.
Next, the team plans to investigate whether larger schools—which tend to include a broader mix of pupils—help foster more economically diverse friendships. The hope is that by nurturing these connections early, the UK can create stronger, more socially mobile communities in the years ahead.
