- Americans are even less likely to mix with people from different socioeconomic classes than they were before the pandemic.
- We work remotely, shop more online, and venture outside our neighborhoods less.
- According to recent research, affordable chain restaurants are the exception.
If you want to meet people who make much more or much less money than you, try your local full-service chain.
No, it's true. Restaurant chains like Olive Garden and Applebee's are America's socio-economic melting pot, according to a new study. A paper by Maxim Massenhoff and Nathan Wilmers of the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University, respectively, examines where Americans of different ranks are likely to rub shoulders.
“America's most socio-economically diverse places are not public institutions like schools or parks, but affordable chain restaurants,” Massenhoff and Wilmers write.
The researchers used SafeGraph's mobile location data, which tracks how many people are in a particular location and where they live, which can indicate income. Using that data, we were able to see how many visitors from different income brackets were frequenting different establishments, and how isolated Americans of different classes were. .
In general, Americans are quite isolated by class. The researchers found that the wealthiest Americans are much more likely to encounter similarly high-income peers, meaning the rich hang out with the rich. And class isolation is more pronounced in urban and suburban areas.
This socio-economic isolation has become even more acute since the pandemic. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that in December 2021, compared to January 2019, far fewer people visited areas where residents' incomes increased or decreased significantly. During this period, interactions between people of different socio-economic backgrounds decreased by up to 30%. — Long after coronavirus lockdowns were lifted, according to tracked cell phone data from more than 1 million people in Boston, Dallas, Seattle and Los Angeles. Researchers believe the rise in remote work and online shopping is helping keep Americans in their neighborhoods.
But there are some places where Americans of all incomes congregate. It's the aforementioned chain restaurant. In fact, the sweet spot for cross-class mixing is what researchers call “full-service, low-cost restaurants.” This includes places like IHOP, Applebee's, Chili's, and Olive Garden.
Researchers found that other businesses, such as pharmacies, grocery stores, and gyms, and public institutions, such as parks, schools, and libraries, were less diverse because they tended to serve people in their neighborhoods. did. High-income earners are more likely to encounter lower-income earners at fast-food restaurants like McDonald's and Wendy's. However, this is not a reciprocal effect, as these restaurants tend to have more of the latter menu items. In places like Panera, poor Americans are more likely to encounter less-poor Americans, not the other way around.
As the researchers point out, all of this comes at a cost to letting Americans of different income brackets socialize, especially as some regions prioritize allowing fewer chain restaurants. It could mean rethinking the policy landscape. After all, research by Harvard economist Raj Chetty shows that making friends with high-income people is the key to economic mobility, while low-income people often rely on proximity. Make friends. That's why it's important to have a place for interaction that goes beyond income. You might meet a new rich friend at Chili's.