Brain Gain in Legacy Cities
My fellow urban policy thinker and sometimes debating partner Aaron Renn at the Manhattan Institute just released a report on Brain Gain in America’s Shrinking Cities. Next City ran an article on Thursday on the topic with some interesting examples of the types of programs Renn advises against. Renn makes some essential points to which every leader in a legacy city should take note. It boils down to this: “brain drain” isn’t happening in your city or it isn’t happening the way you think it is, so change your strategy. His main points are pasted below, but the full report is well worth the read and is packed with insightful charts and tables that unpack these observations:
- Every major metro area in the country that has been losing population and/or jobs is actually gaining people with college degrees at double digit rates.
- As a whole the shrinking city group is holding its own with the country in terms of educational attainment rates, and in many cases outperforming it.
- Even among younger adults, most shrinking cities are adding more of them with degrees, increasing their educated population share, and even catching up with the rest of the country in their college degree attainment levels.
Continue reading here