Chicago Metro Among America's Worst For 'Brain Drain': Study

ILLINOIS — Chicago is among the five metro areas nationwide with the largest net loss of college-educated residents, according a recent study.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin tied with Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim for fourth-highest net loss on the list, with 32 percent more college-educated people leaving both areas than moving to them during 2023, according to the study on “brain drain” published by moving resource website Hire A Helper and using U.S. Census Bureau data.

Four of the six metro areas with the largest net loss were in California, the study said.

Oxnard had the highest net loss on the list, with 51 percent, according to the study. Other California metro areas in the top six included San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara with 48 percent and San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward with 25 percent.

Outside the Golden State, New York-Newark-Jersey City came in second on the national net loss list with 40 percent, according to Hire A Helper.

Many metros in Florida fell on the other end of the spectrum, with 135 percent more college degree holders moving to Sarasota-Brandenton than left the area, the study said. Jacksonville had 81 percent and Tampa had 56 percent.

California’s neighbor, Las Vegas, also saw 71 percent more people with a college degree enter the metro than departed it, according to Hire A Helper.

At the state level, Illinois was not among the 10 worst for net loss of college-educated people, although it did lose 37 percent more degree holders than it gained, the study said. The worst states for net loss were South Dakota with 72 percent, Mississippi with 67 percent, and Oklahoma and Louisiana tying for third with 62 percent each.

The three states with the highest levels of reverse brain drain were Washington, which gained 169 percent more college-educated people than it lost, followed by South Carolina with 137 percent and Nevada with 111 percent, according to Hire A Helper. Two of the three top states — Washington and Nevada — do not have income tax, the study noted.

Read the full study.