Search for higher quality of life draws professionals in their 30s and 40s to rural communities

Much has been reported about the declining population in rural counties and certain states, especially among educated young people, part of a rural "brain drain." But Ben Winchester, a rural sociologist at the University of Minnesota, told Jo Dee Black of the Great Falls Tribune that one in five Americans in their 30s and 40s live in rural areas, higher than the overall rural population of 16 percent. (Tribune photo by Tim Goesmann: The Bucklin family moved from Las Vegas to Montana)

Winchester dubs this movement the "Brain Gain," because it consists mostly of young professionals who are moving to rural areas to raise families. He says that 36 percent of people moving to rural communities have never lived in one before. Half of Montana's counties had an increase in residents between 30 to 34 years old between 2000 to 2010, reports Black. Some rural counties had growth increases as large as 25 percent. (Read more)