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Median earnings for Montana workers over age 24 are $31,800 and places Montana 45th among all states. How can Montana increase wages and develop a robust knowledge economy of skilled workers?

Montanans love Montana. A recent Gallup poll asked whether or not respondents believed that their state was the best, or one of the best, states in which to live. 77 percent of Montanans chose their home state. For one group, though, Montana appears less desirable: the college-educated, and particularly the young and college-educated.

Migration had dramatic impacts on Montana during the past two decades, affecting the total population, its distribution between rural and urban areas, and composition by age, including school-age populations.

As Americans age, their likelihood of migrating, their reasons for moving, and their destination choices shift dramatically. Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are entering a stage when moves to rural locales increase, especially to areas with scenic amenities and lower housing costs.

Trends in population migration took a pause during the nation's worst recession since the Great Depression, recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau show. That is particularly true for the year 2009 in some of the traditionally faster growing parts of Montana.

The buzz begins the moment a new family moves into the neighborhood. Who are these new neighbors? Where did they come from? The truth is that they are not from some exotic location, but probably from Helena, or at most, Spokane. The 2000 Census reported that almost 43 percent of Montanans moved from one house to another in the last five years, and about 22 percent moved from a different state. Combined with mortgage rates at their lowest levels in a generation, this increasing mobility provides most of the explanation for rising house prices and increased home construction.