STUDY: What does income mobility look like for Texans?

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TEXAS (KXAN) -- New data is giving a closer insight into how likely Texans from different demographic groups are able to climb the income mobility ladder.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' two-part series explores socioeconomic trends reported in the Income Distributions and Dynamics in America dataset, compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas used that dataset to see "how common it is for the Texans to remain in their income group after five years or alternatively move up or down" to other income levels, per a July 19 analysis.

Part 1 of the study's findings -- released back in late May -- found Black and Hispanic Texans not only had lower earnings but had seen little change in their earning levels compared to white Texans, when looking at W-2s from 2005 to 2019.

Part 2 of the study used 2014 as its baseline year and tracked W-2 tax forms from different demographic groups through 2019. The analysis found Asian Texans were the exception among demographic groups and "showed substantial upward mobility among income groups during this period."

Asian Texans were the least likely to drop to the low-income group, while also being the most likely to reach the highest-income threshold. Comparatively, already low-income Black Texans were the most likely to remain in the low-income group over the five-year period, as well as the least likely to remain in a high-income group during the same time span.

Hispanic Texans had the highest likelihood of moving from the low-income group to the low-to-middle-income group, but data found it was unlikely for Hispanic Texans to advance income levels beyond that.

Overall, Black and Hispanic Texans routinely earn less than their counterparts, with Asian Texans an exception among non-white demographic groups.

Meanwhile, white Texans represented the highest demographic group to move to a "missing" income group between 2014 and 2019. That "missing" designation means their W-2 tax forms were no longer in the system, likely indicating unemployment. However, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said it could also signify the person had died, and thus no longer reported W-2 tax forms.

Approximately 31% of Texans moved into the "missing" group designation within the five-year time period, marking the highest percentage among all demographic groups analyzed. However, an equal amount of white Texans were also projected to go from a low-to-middle-income status to a middle-to-high-income group.

“White Texans appear to have the most tenuous relationship to employment out of all the demographic groups rather than being especially likely to fall or climb to different income groups," the analysis read.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' analysis is available online.