Stuck in an economic rut? Maybe a move could give you a boost, says a new study, which found that the more economically mobile citizens of the U.S. live in places like New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. If you’re living in the South, well, that money ladder is harder to climb.

A study by the Pew Center on the States found that those living in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Utah had a better chance of climbing that economic ladder. The worst states to advance your fortunes were found to be Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.

You could up your chances of grabbing a piece of that money pie just by moving, says the study — one-third of Americans who live in a different state from where they were born were more likely to be upwardly mobile.

The study drew from U.S. Census and Social Security data from around 65,000 people in all 50 states over a 10-year period. It analyzed three things — individuals’ earnings growth, that growth relative to others in their state and state-wide economic mobility growth compared to national averages.

“Where you live matters for your economic mobility prospects,” study author Erin Currier told ABC News, adding that the study didn’t look at why the states performed how they did, but that past research suggests that higher education, savings and assets, and neighborhood prosperity or poverty during childhood drive economic advancement.

Want More Money? Move to the Mid-Atlantic or New England, Study Finds [ABC News]

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