A study by a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska found that when women left rural areas of Great Plains states to attend college, they tended not to return. But men who left these areas to attend college were more likely to return to their rural roots. The data, using Census data from 2000 to 2010 for men and women of traditional college age, found that during the period more than half of local communities with fewer than 800 people showed an increased ratio of young men to young women.
Author Robert Shepard stated, “Some of the men can come back because there are a lot of traditionally male jobs like agriculture and industry. Many rural communities don’t often provide the same opportunity for women.”
The paper, “The Role of Gender in Rural Population Decline in Kansas and Nebraska, 1990-2010,” was published in the journal Great Plains Research.