"red indicates low economic mobility while pale yellow represents places with higher economic mobility"

SC and the rest of the South at the bottom of economic mobility

The cost of living in South Carolina is a big selling point for local politicians and businesses trying to get folks to move here, but along with a low cost of living South Carolina also is well-below average when it comes to the national average in income. As CityRating.com points out:

The cost of living in South Carolina (SC) is lower than the nationwide average. The average yearly pay in South Carolina is $37,556.00, which is lower than the U.S. average annual salary by $9,186.00. The consumer price index (CPI) of 205 in South Carolina is 8.48% lower than the U.S. city average CPI of 224. 

To further exacerbate this problem, a recent Harvard University and the University of California-Berkeley study shows that the south is leading the way in economic mobility -a term that means it is harder to pull ones self up on the economic ladder, from poor to rich. 

via Huffington Post:

So what is it that stifles economic mobility? The researchers found that areas with higher levels of segregation, income inequality and more single parents tend to have worse prospects for mobility. In addition, regions with fewer social networks and poorer school systems are typically worse off.

The one not-so-depressing finding from the report is that economic mobility hasn't slowed over the past few decades, instead it's pretty much stayed the same. That said, while a child's chance of moving up the income ladder hasn't fallen, the rungs on the ladder have grown farther apart (read: income inequality has gotten a lot worse).

Hop on over to The Huffington Post for their full write-up

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