Our “districts,” which consist of about nine census tracts each, correspond to recognizable local areas, as their boundaries align with physical barriers, sharp demographic changes, and local government borders. To illustrate applications, we first show that tract-level analyses of neighborhood sorting miss important broader patterns. Second, aggregating tract-level intergenerational mobility estimates to the district level increases precision threefold while introducing little aggregation bias, resulting in improved predictive power in a hold-out sample.
- Tract-to-Districts Crosswalk: This file contains the crosswalk and related variable definitions, as well as citation information.