This article originally appeared in The Detroit News June 16, 2026.

It’s that time of year when friends, parents and grandparents say, “Now that you’re finished with college, what are your plans?”

For family members of the graduates, there is a deep concern embedded in that question. They wonder if their children or grandchild will move away.

Daniel Erspamer, a policy leader in Louisiana, has this chilling observation: “A state can help people leave a legacy or the state can have a legacy of leaving.”

Michigan has a long legacy of leaving, with an annual brain drain as young people pursue better opportunities in Florida, North Carolina or Tennessee. It’s the same legacy when a company founded in Michigan and long operated here decides to relocate.

The numbers for Michigan are not encouraging. The state saw slight population growth in 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but we were well below the national average. Michigan ranked 35th in the country in percentage growth. For the first time in more than three decades, Michigan showed positive domestic migration, meaning more people moved here from other states than moved out. Since 2020, Michigan has recorded more deaths than births.

Economists and politicians often talk about population growth. Companies that come to the state create jobs and opportunities. When people move to a state, they bring productivity and spending. Population growth translates into vibrancy, energy and innovation. Economist Julian L. Simon famously wrote about this in his 1981 book “The Ultimate Resource.” Simon argued that people help drive economic growth, so population is a net plus.

Michigan’s population trends are weak, but that can be fixed. Here’s the reality: Policy drives population. A state that encourages entrepreneurship will attract new companies and new workers. Michigan’s college graduates wouldn’t have to leave for their first jobs.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer drew attention to this issue — and rightly so — in 2023 when she formed the Growing Michigan Together Council. She asked the bipartisan commission to develop a strategy to attract and keep talent. It was a good assignment.

The council’s final report, issued in December 2023, was a flop. The report did not identify what drives population in Michigan or elsewhere. There was little research on what’s working in other states, particularly those that are eating our lunch.

Instead, the council said we should rebrand Michigan as “The Innovation Hub of the Midwest.” It called for new government spending for free childcare, elder care, business subsidies, free college, mass transit and more parks. Plenty of spending ideas, but slim research on whether those ideas actually work.

There is, actually, abundant research on what drives population growth. Hannah K. Kling, an economist at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, reviewed 100 studies on the topic for the Mackinac Center and concluded, in her own study, that there is a strong connection between economic growth and population growth. State policymakers have the most leverage over domestic migration, where people move from other states to Michigan.

After the Growing Michigan Together Council issued its population report, a co-chair of the council offered a surprising admission. John Rakolta Jr. of Walbridge Co. said the committee’s recommendations might not succeed.

“The date in my mind is 2050 before we see gains, if then,” Rakolta told The Detroit News. “That’s why I didn’t want to call it a population growth council.”

The report was supposed to offer data-driven solutions, but today’s college graduates will be middle-aged before the state’s population council hopes to see results.

So, to Michigan’s college graduates: See you in 25 years.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.