Posts Tagged ‘population movement’

Rural America: Who’s getting younger?

August 5th, 2010

I doubt anyone is surprised by this news, but information published on the Daily Yonder confirms that much of the rural Midwest has continued to age.  Not all rural Midwestern counties, however, followed this trend.  Some got younger, including a handful of counties right here in South Dakota.

That’s good news for each of the counties that became younger.  But it’s also good news for those counties that became older; hopefully we can learn from these hipster counties.

What does the Daily Yonder article say?

Produced by Roberto Gallardo, the Daily Yonder article focuses on the proportional change in population under age 25 of all rural counties in the U.S during the last decade.  As the map to the right indicates, most rural counties (shown in red) experienced a decrease in the percentage of young people; those identified in blue became younger.  (source:  “Rural America inthe 2000s: Age,” Roberto Gallardo, Daily Yonder,  July 21, 2010.)

In total, nine rural South Dakota counties experienced an increase in the percentage of young people.  Those counties include:

Looking at the list, I’m a bit surprised.  I had expected to find Beadle and Brown Counties on the list, two counties benefiting from major new business startups in recent years, and reservation counties, where birth rates are typically higher.  I’m also surprised by just how “typical” these counties are.  Strike Clay and Brookings Counties, which house our state’s two largest universities, and the remaining counties are very similar to most rural counties in eastern South Dakota.

Why’s this important?

This research is timely for me because it comes on the heels of “The Rural Growth Trifecta” study, the most recent of a long line of studies emphasizing the importance of outdoor amenities to rural community development.  Comparing maps we can see that all of the South Dakota communities that grew younger rank low on the outdoor amenity scale used in “The Rural Growth Trifecta” study.

If outdoor amenities are key to attracting people to rural communities, and I agree they are, then why are these lower amenity counties getting younger?   I don’t have the answer to this question, but I’d sure like to know more.

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Should we banish “brain drain” from our vocabulary

January 8th, 2010

In his report “Rural Migration:  The Brain Gain of Newcomers,” Ben Winchester tells us that many parts of rural Minnesota are experiencing a brain gain with new residents age 30-45 moving in.  This is a very important occurrence because rural areas tend to lose younger individuals as they go off to college. 

For those who haven’t read the report, I want to share a few insights Ben sent me via e-mail. 

First, Ben’s research leads him to believe the trend he discovered in Minnesota is widespread across the Rural Midwest, including South Dakota.  While I trust Ben’s academic prowess, I’d still like to see some research to support it.  After all, my South Dakota heritage tells me that all the good stuff happens to Minnesota and not South Dakota.

Second, he highlights a point made explicit in his report:  Over half of the residents moving to rural communities come with college degrees.  This trend has helped raise the educational attainment level of rural communities.  In other words, the communities are getting smarter, not dumber, which leads to his last point.

Finally, using the word “brain drain” to describe the rural population movement creates problems for us as we try to move rural communities forward.  As Ben writes, “the use of negative language to describe the dynamics of our small towns (brain drain, outmigration) makes it difficult to foresee a way forward for our rural people.” 

This last point is one that I’ve long agreed with.  From my economic development specialist’s perspective, using “brain drain” creates a marketing challenge.  Why would we expect outsiders to look positively at our communities when we imply that the smart people are all moving away?

But I’ve continued to use the phrase anyway for a couple reasons.  First, even though it’s negative, the phrase helps focus our attention on the issue of young people moving out of our communities.  And second, I’m not aware of a term to replace it with.  

Ben and I hope to get together sometime in the near future to discuss this and other issues.  I’m open to the possibility of banishing the word from my vocabulary.  But before I do, want to throw the topic out to our readers here at ReImagine Rural. 

Should we banish the phrase “brain drain” from our language?  And if so, how can we continue to focus attention on the need to create change in our rural communities so that they become more attractive places for young people?  What do you think?

Photo Credit:  spierzchala – Flickr

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Rural | Comments (16)