NJ A Great Place To Maximize Earnings

If you want to move up the economic ladder (and who doesn't?), New Jersey is a great place to do it.

A report by the Pew Center on the States puts the Garden State atop the list for economic mobility.

The "Economic Mobility of the States" study captures the findings of the first analysis of Americans' economic mobility (their ability to move up or down the earnings ladder) on a state level. The study investigates Americans' mobility prospects during their prime working years-the 10-year span between ages 35-39 and 45-49.

The report takes into account residents' average earnings growth over a 10-year period, their rank on the earnings ladder relative to their peers and upward and downward mobility along that ladder.

"Eight states have consistently higher and lower downward mobility in the nation as a whole and New Jersey was one of those eight," says Pew project manager Eric Currier. "In fact, New Jersey really stood out among the other states that we looked at because it performed consistently better than the national average on all three measures that we looked at."

Maryland and New York were the only other states to perform better on all three measures. So what does this mean for New Jersey?

Currier says, "Where you live matters. Clearly people who are living in New Jersey are doing better with their economic mobility."

Things may have changed, but it's too early to tell. The report used the latest available data which was from pre-recession 2007.