CRS Report: Trends in Income Mobility, Inequality, and Economic Policy.

While somewhat "wonkish", this new report from Congressional Research Service provides useful perspective for housing affordability discussions.

Report is HERE.

From summary:

"While there appears to be considerable relative income mobility (about 60% of
individuals change income quintiles over 10 years), it is not far — about 60% of
those individuals who changed income quintile in the 1980s or 1990s only moved to
the next quintile. But most individuals in the poorest quintile in 1980 experienced
an increase in their real income between 1980 and 1989 — half saw their real income
increase by more than 36%. Of those in the richest quintile, almost half saw their
real income fall by 10% or more during the 1980s. But there are differences in
income changes between the 1980s and the 1990s: those in the poorest income
quintile may have done slightly better in the 1990s than in the 1980s, while
individuals higher up in the income distribution (quintiles 2-5) appear to have done
better in the 1980s than in the 1990s."