Race matters less than it used to as people try to achieve the "American Dream," new study shows

The study by Harvard University showed Black millennials fared better than their Gen X counterparts, while the opposite happened among white groups (Credit: Morsa Images/Gettyimages)

Race used to be a key indicator of the possibility of social mobility in the U.S. Now, as the country becomes increasingly more diverse, race seems to be playing a smaller role in achieving the so-called "American Dream," a new study by Harvard University suggests.

The study looked at two groups, a Gen X cohort born in 1978 and a millennial cohort born in 1992. The data covered 57 million children and researchers looked through decades of anonymized census and tax records to which the federal government gave them access to. Adjusting for inflation, they then measured these groups' ability to rise to the middle and upper classes.