Stuck or Rooted? Perspectives on the Residential Immobility of Children in the U.S. from Poor Neighborhoods and Implications for Policy

Families relocating from concentrated poverty neighborhoods is somewhat rare, either due to structural constraints that limit mobility or the disincentive to leave dense social networks built over time. Researchers previously juxtaposed these two experiences as either “stuck” or “rooted”. We advance a critical take on both perspectives by demonstrating the heterogeneity of life in disadvantaged neighborhoods for Black urban youth. We utilize data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the 1997 Child Development Supplement to investigate contextual immobility, barriers to moving, and self-reported levels of neighborhood social ties to critique prior research and emergent policy that categorizes disadvantaged populations as “stuck” or “rooted”. Our findings demonstrate that immobility is most strongly associated with the household head lacking a high school education and with knowing more children’s names in the neighborhood. Thus, immobility is associated with structural barriers to moving and social rootedness. We discuss how current policy strategies do not effectively address this duality. We conclude that policy strategies should facilitate intragenerational mobility through housing choice, including the choice to remain in the neighborhood.