Is Your Zip Code Your Destiny?

How education and economic opportunity became linked to neighborhood

It’s an idea that’s core to the American Dream: where you are from shouldn’t affect your opportunities in life. In a truly meritocratic society, the state, city, or even neighborhood where a person grew up should have little, if any, bearing on outcomes in their adult lives that we might associate with “success,” such as education, health, income, or ha…