LINCOLN- Five years of data from a student survey coordinated by the Nebraska Community Foundation is in and the consensus shows that rural youths like their small-town living. The foundation released cumulative results of an annual youth survey conducted since 2020 in partnership with the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Respondents are about 4,000 middle and high school students from 43 schools in cities and towns as small as Diller, population less than 250, and as large as Norfolk, which has nearly 26,000 residents. With a network that stretches across 270 Nebraska communities, foundation officials said the survey was designed to better understand the priorities and perspectives of young people growing up in rural areas as well as their expectations for the future.

Brain drain, or educated professionals leaving the state, has been a persistent concern, noted Josie Schafer, who heads CPAR at UNO, but the exodus of Nebraskans of all ages and education levels combined has slowed down according to the most recent U.S. Census data for 2023. That suggests that perhaps younger people may not be fleeing in the same way and as fast as in the past, Schafer said. Specific and updated brain drain census data won’t be available until later this year.

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