Brain Drain in Nebraska: What do the data show?

Nebraska is a growing state, but it is a slowly growing state. Over the last decade, population growth in Nebraska, at 0.6% per year, has lagged the national average rate of 1.0%. This gap in growth rates is large in real terms. Given a current population of approximately 1.8 million persons, Nebraska would grow by approximately 18,000 persons per year if it grew at the national growth rate of 1.0% per year. Instead, the state only adds about 11,000 persons per year. A lower growth rate results in a loss of 7,000 persons per year in population growth in Nebraska.