How long is your commute?

1 min read · August 22, 2025
New Power Labs

In a landmark study, Harvard economist Raj Chetty found that commute time was the single strongest predictor of upward mobility among low-income families, even stronger than crime rates or school quality. If you can’t get to where jobs are, you stay poor – no matter how hard you work (Chetty, Hendren & Katz, The Equality of Opportunity Project, 2014).

Just as commute time constrains economic mobility, lack of access to financial tools, networks, or capital constrains entrepreneurs and communities. In both cases, the problem isn’t individual capacity, it’s systemic design. 

The success of even the hardest-working person depends not on effort alone, but on access to resources.

Upward mobility requires removing structural barriers to access – whether that’s transit, capital, or networks.

Narinder
New Power Labs

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