LINCOLN — Five years of data from a student survey coordinated by the Nebraska Community Foundation is in. The consensus: Rural youths like their small-town living.

The foundation on Monday released cumulative results of an annual youth survey conducted since 2020 in partnership with the Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Respondents are about 4,000 middle and high school students from 43 schools in cities and towns as small as Diller, population less than 250, and as large as Norfolk, which has nearly 26,000 residents.

Future of rural Nebraska

With a network that stretches across 270 Nebraska communities, foundation officials said the survey was designed to better understand priorities and perspectives of young people growing up in rural areas — and their expectations for the future.

An goal is talent retention, said the survey team. 

Brain drain, or educated professionals leaving the state, has been a persistent concern, noted Josie Schafer, who heads CPAR at UNO. 

But the exodus of Nebraskans overall from the state, those of all ages and education levels combined, has slowed down, according to the most recent U.S. Census data for 2023. That suggests that perhaps younger people may not be fleeing in the same way and speed as in the past, Schafer said. Specific and updated brain drain census data won’t be available until later this year.

Jeff Yost, president and CEO of the foundation, said he is encouraged by the findings of the rural youth survey.

“In our global society, young people have more options than ever, but because of technology, the opportunities our rural communities present are also abundant,” he said. “These five years of data indicate great promise for the future of our rural hometowns and our state.”

Survey highlights

Key five-year findings reported by the foundation:

• Nearly three-fourths reported no negative stigma with returning or staying in the place they now lived.
• Of the students surveyed, 59% said they were somewhat or extremely likely to live in the area they now live when they are an adult. In 2020, 68% of the students surveyed said they felt connected to the place they lived. The cumulative five-year percentage showed 76% reporting connection to their community.
• When asked about ideal community size, students most often answered “small like my hometown.” In 2020, 47% of those surveyed answered as such, and in the following years that percentage rose, averaging 55% over the five years.
• When asked to rank qualities of an ideal community, students put safety from violence at the top. Good schools and proximity to family followed, in that order, for five straight years.

Schafer said the multi-year trend of the Greater Nebraska Youth Survey shows that, for the most part, “rural youth really love their communities.”

The middle and high schoolers feel positive about what their hometowns have to offer, she said.

However, respondents cited job opportunities elsewhere as the main reason they would not live in their community as an adult. 

According to a more extensive 2023 survey, students said they recognized availability of health care and agriculture jobs in their towns, but do not see as much opportunity in other fields of interest such as the arts, recreation, tourism, business management, information technology and media.

That’s when “we worry they might trail off” and look for bigger places with more growth for economic advancement, Schafer said.

“Can we promise brain drain will turn around? I can’t,” she said. “But the kind of energy and passion we see from these youths (who participated in the survey) is a good sign.”

DEI valued by youth

Schafer said the data offers more clarity to rural communities about what they’re doing well and where opportunity exists to keep young people in their midst.

Since the survey was launched in 2020, for example, only 34% of students have agreed with the statement: “I play a role in this community.”

Foundation representatives said their affiliates are seeking ways to better engage youths with decision-making opportunities that could strengthen ties. 

The foundation said in a news release that the survey reinforced the importance of inclusion, equity and diversity — “something students say is of great value to the places they choose to live in the future.”

Headquartered in Lincoln, the foundation said that since 1994 it has reinvested $553 million in Nebraska’s people and places.

Carrie Malek-Madani, foundation spokeswoman, said this year’s youth survey was less widespread than prior years but capped a five-year accumulation of data with just over 4,000 respondents. She said organizers view results as solid and received confirmation of trends they saw early on.

Basic key questions remained consistent over the years, though some questions were added as years went on.

Differences arise by gender, race

The foundation last year surveyed nearly 1,000 students and reported that, overall, the group expressed positive sentiments about their communities. Differences were evident, however, when broken down by gender identity, race and ethnicity. Female students, for instance, reported being less likely to live in their current community as adults.

Students of color reported feeling less connected to their communities and were more likely to report having been bullied and having witnessed someone being treated unfairly in the community due to age, race, gender, sexual orientation, physical illness or mental health, the foundation said. 

Three-fourths of all students reported they would act to stop unfair treatment, and 60% said they were likely to advocate for diversity and inclusion.

Malek-Madani said that when the survey began, some were surprised at the degree of positive attachment youths felt to their communities.

Conventional thought was that rural youths want to move on to bigger places as soon as they can, she said. “I think there’s been a real shift.”

Malek-Madani said the youths surveyed consistently ranked safety, good schools and proximity to family as aspects of their ideal community.

“Small towns offer those things,” she said.