Leaving the Good Life: Predicting Migration Intentions of Rural Nebraskans

Authors

Rebecca Filkins, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
John C. Allen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Sam Cordes, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

November 1998

Comments

Published by the Center for Applied Rural Innovation, University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Copyright © 1998 by R. Filkins, J. Allen, and S. Cordes.

Abstract

Much has been written about the population turnaround in the nonmetropolitan United States in the 1990's. While only 45% of the nonmetropolitan counties experienced population growth during the 1980's, it was estimated that nearly 74% of the these counties grew between 1990 and 1994 (Johnson, 1996). However, over one-half of Nebraska’s nonmetropolitan counties have continued to experience population declines between 1990 and 1997 (Population Estimates Program, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC). The question then remains, “Why are people moving from nonmetropolitan counties in Nebraska?” This paper attempts to answer that question by analyzing the migration intentions of nonmetropolitan Nebraskans.