Upward mobility is a person's ability to improve their social or economic status — for example by getting a degree, advancing in their career or by earning a high income.

To highlight the best and worst US cities for economic mobility, Visual Capitalist compared the real household income of 27-year-olds in different cities. Both groups were raised by low-income parents, but the first were born in 1978, while the second were born in 1992.

Brownsville and Austin in Texas lead the way when it comes to upward mobility; real wages grew by seven and six percent, respectively, between the cities' '78 and '92 cohorts.

Of the 50 metro areas in the study, only 12 experienced real wage growth among the social class analyzed — and five of them belonged to Texas.

Americans are least likely to see upward mobility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where income growth declined by 13 percent between the two groups.

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Via Voronoi.