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About Mississippi’s Brain Drain
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An initiative of Working Together Mississippi

About Mississippi’s Brain Drain
Blog Archive
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A visual primer on Mississippi’s brain drain (2020 update)

By Jake McGraw / August 18, 2020

Despite its location in the middle of the fastest-growing region in America, Mississippi perennially loses more people to other states than it attracts. A decade of outmigration has resulted in a net loss of more than 61,000 people. This is not a new phenomenon: Mississippi is the birthplace of 366,000 more people than currently live in the state.

The net loss since 2010 would make up Mississippi’s third-largest city, approximately the size of Southaven.

The net lifetime loss is two-fifths the size of the electorate in the 2019 gubernatorial election.

Education and age are the top predictors of who will leave Mississippi. Millenials with bachelor’s degrees or beyond are most likely to leave and unlikeliest to move in from other states.

People who have completed less than a four-year degree earn comparable incomes in Mississippi and its surrounding states. However, the average salary for people with bachelor’s degrees and beyond is significantly less in Mississippi.

Mississippi’s outmigration has negated the natural population growth that occurs when births exceed deaths. Among our surrounding states, only Louisiana is experiencing net outmigration. All other states have grown by more than 100,000 total residents since 2010.

From 2010-2019, Mississippi lost more people than it gained year. Only Louisiana and Arkansas experienced even a single year of net outmigration during that period.

Texas and Florida are the most common destinations for Mississippians who leave.

When people leave, their incomes and tax dollars follow. Mississippi exports nearly $170 million in economic activity to other states each year through net outmigration.

Even states that are growing rapidly have large swaths that are depopulating, mostly in rural areas. However, outmigration is much more widespread in Mississippi.

Mississippi’s strongest growth is concentrated in suburban areas and college towns. The Coast and Northeast have experienced the most consistent regional growth.

However, even the counties that are growing rapidly by Mississippi’s standards do not make the top 100 fastest-growing counties in the Southeastern U.S.

Mississippi is heavily represented among the fastest-shrinking counties.

Economic and lifestyle factors cause Mississippians to leave and others to stay away.

There is no silver bullet to reverse brain drain. It requires people to do their part on the state, local, and organizational level.

COVID is also a mental health epidemic

Listen: a conversation with Bracey Harris about school segregation and reopening in COVID

Related Posts

New Census data, same old story: People keep leaving Mississippi

New Census data, same old story: People keep leaving Mississippi

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October 12, 2019 / Analysis, Brain Drain, Population

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Jake McGraw j.mcgraw@workingtogetherms.org

4915 I-55 North
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