South Carolina Ranked #8 in the Nation for Retaining its Native Residents

How well does South Carolina keep its native residents? Based on a calculation measuring the share of people born in each state who still live there, Texas is the nation’s “stickiest” state, but South Carolina is 8th best in the nation in retaining its native residents and 8th lowest rate of resident departures. Our natives aren’t leaving. Of the top 10, four are from the Southeast region of the US.

What does stickiness / retained residency mean?

The share of people born in a state and who stay there can provide an important measure of its attractiveness to workers. The stickiness of native residents is also key to maintaining a stable (or growing) population and workforce, which is vital to economic growth.

To figure out which states are best at retaining their native residents, using American Community Survey (ACS) data, it estimated the share of people born in each state who still lived in that state as of the 2021 survey (Below chart).

What makes a state sticky?

Sticky states, where the weather is often warmer, tend to offer better economic conditions than nonsticky states. These conditions can be in the form of better and more varied job opportunities or less burdensome tax policies. Without sufficient employment opportunities, native residents may be pushed to other states to seek good jobs.

The five stickiest states each recorded above-average job growth between 2010 and 2019, meaning there was less pressure for residents to leave to find work. Four of the five stickiest states also have below average state and local tax burdens. Residents born in low-tax states may be hesitant to move to high-tax states, as the additional obligation will reduce take-home pay and may lower their standard of living.

States with multiple cities are at an advantage for stickiness because they can provide native residents with a wider variety of in-state job opportunities and relatively higher wages compared with smaller or less-populous states with fewer urban areas.

Altogether, the five stickiest states have 15 metropolitan statistical areas with populations exceeding 1 million; among the five least-sticky states, there is only one such metro (Providence, Rhode Island). Even when including smaller cities, those top stickiest states have 28 metros with 500,000 or more residents versus still just one among the bottom five.

Let’s look at the numbers:

• South Carolina retained 71.87% of its native residents
• South Carolina residents that moved: 28.13%
• Top 10 of retaining residents: Texas (82.20%), North Carolina (75.52%), Georgia (74.23%), California (73.00%), Utah (72.95%) Florida (72.67%), Wisconsin (72.52%), South Carolina (71.87%), Alabama (71.59%), Michigan (71.53%)
• Top 10 lowest moving rate: Texas (17.80%), North Carolina (24.48%), Georgia (25.77%), California (27.00%), Utah (27.05%), Florida (27.33%), Wisconsin (27.48%), South Carolina (28.13%), Alabama (28.41%), Michigan (28.47%)