(Radio Iowa) – A report from the Common Sense Institute Iowa shows the state has the third highest level of out migration of all 50 states when adjusted for population. Report co-author Ben Murrey says born-and-raised Iowans have some of the highest average incomes in the country but often choose to work elsewhere.  “That has implications for Iowa’s economy, right? It means we’re investing in human capital, and what turns out to be very valuable human capital, but Iowa is not getting the return on that investment. Some other state is getting the return on that investment,” Murrey says.

He says the study looked at people who left the state after graduating from a public university in 2022.  “One year of that flight of young, college-educated people, costs Iowa’s economy six-point-one billion dollars over their working life,” he says. “Now you have to imagine, you get the same negative impact in 2024 and 2025 and every year we have these people leaving.” Murrey says one reason so many people born and raised in Iowa are leaving is because they are able to fetch higher salaries elsewhere. He says there is a mismatch.

The number of white-collar jobs in Iowa simply can’t keep up with the number of young and educated adults the state produces. The report found the total cost to educate a single Iowan from 2006 to 2022 was more than 250-thousand dollars. Most of that is spent during college.