Indiana ranked last in U.S. Census analysis Indiana

FORT WAYNE, IND. -- Former South Bend residents Cynthia and Derrick Wozniak are young and highly educated -- just the kind of people a state suffering from a prolonged "brain drain" cannot afford to lose.\nThe couple joined that exodus when they left for Sarasota, Fla., trading harsh northern winters for a home 20 minutes from the balmy Gulf Coast.\n"I taught in Indiana for four years, and a lot of it was the winter weather -- getting up in the morning and scraping ice off the window," said Cynthia Wozniak, 33.\nTheir story is just one of thousands that have given Indiana the nation's worst record in keeping well-educated 25- to 34-year-olds from moving out-of-state, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau figures prepared by The Journal Gazette.\nFor a variety of reasons -- including higher-paying jobs and warmer climates -- Indiana is losing some of its best-educated residents.\nAccording to the results of the analysis the newspaper published Sunday, one out of three people born in Indiana lived out of state in 2000.\nThat ratio has changed little for two decades, but it conceals a more sobering fact -- the people who have left the state represent 60 percent of native Hoosiers with incomes of $100,000 or more.\nLikewise, transplants from other states make up a third of Indiana's population but represent nearly half of those in the state with incomes of $100,000 or more.\nYoung and highly educated, the former Hoosiers represent a coveted segment of the population, and Indiana is losing more of them than any other state.\nMore people in that group -- those with at least a bachelor's degree -- left the state than entered between 1995 and 2000, for an estimated net loss of 17,000, according to census data.\nOf those who left, a large number -- more than one in three -- were native Hoosiers. Many others, state census analysts say, presumably came from other states to attend Indiana colleges and left after graduation.\nPeople in the 25- to-34-year-old age group have been described as important because of their spending power. They are raising families, shopping for homes and "driving the new hi-tech economy," according to Market Research.com, which compiles demographic and other research.\nAs for higher education, only 46 percent of native Hoosiers with at least a bachelor's degree live in Indiana.\nThat is not unusual. Two-thirds of the states have less than 50 percent retention. Texas, with a 69 percent retention rate tops the list, followed by California, with 67 percent retention.\nStill, native Hoosiers living outside the state are more likely to be company chief executives, and those who stay put are more likely to be blue collar workers.\nCraig A. Baker, a Columbia City computer applications developer, Purdue University graduate and Fort Wayne native considered a move to North Carolina's famous science park.\n"I thought about going to Research Triangle a couple of times," he said. "I could have gone to New York or something like that. But I decided it wasn't for me.\nWhat holds Brown and Baker to the state has no apparent pull on many others.\nMichael McNees, 48, left Indiana for a job coaching track in Louisiana after graduating from Indiana University in 1977. He moved to Florida in 1980 with a national gas distribution company and now runs the city of Sarasota as its city manager. His father still lives in Brownsburg.\nMcNees said it's coincidental that only recently did he question the implications of his leaving Indiana.\n"I moved to opportunities I had," he said. "I never made a conscious decision to move away from Indiana. Did I ever consider looking for a job in Indiana? The answer is no, I never did."\nFor transplanted Hoosiers, Florida is the most popular state with about 240,000 Indiana-born residents. The highest concentrations are on the Gulf Coast, in cities such as Sarasota, Bradenton and Naples, and many of them are retirees.\nIllinois is second most popular with 201,000 native Hoosiers, followed by California with 160,000.