Migration study shows Nebraska holding its own

Other states' losses are Nebraska's gains -- or at least Nebraska's smaller losses, according to a University of Nebraska Omaha study.

Yes, we're still losing people -- down 400 between 2008 and 2009, the 13th year in a row.

In 2008, however, Nebraska lost 2,500 people, and 2009's figure was the smallest since 1996.

Native Nebraskans only have to think about their own families to confirm the trend -- the uncle who moved to California, the nephew to Chicago, the sister in Texas.

But ask around, and you'll find friends who moved here from Georgia, Arizona, Florida or Nevada.

That last state is especially interesting, since we lost more people to Nevada than we gained for the previous 15 years.

So what's going on?

While Nebraska's economy has been as steady as Tom Osborne, other states have experienced boom-and-bust housing and economic cycles.

The latest migration statistics from the Center for Public Affairs Research at UNO show that Nebraska had a net gain of residents from Arizona, Florida and Georgia for the first time in more than 20 years of available data, and only the second with net immigration from Nevada.

Not only did the trend in those states change, it changed in a big way, according to the study.

Nebraska gained more than 300 residents from Florida in 2009, the second best among all states, while Arizona and Georgia ranked as the sixth and seventh best net migration states that year. Nevada's 100 net residents ranked among the top 10.

We gained residents from 22 states in 2009, the same as 2008, and most of them, more than 1,000, from California, the 20th consecutive year of net immigration from the Golden State.

But it wasn't just from the South and West; for the first time in 21 years, Nebraska had net immigration from all Midwest states, led by Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. Nebraska gained 300 from Iowa, compared to losing 800 just four years earlier.

Michigan lost residents to all states in 2009, totaling about 65,000 people.

While people have been moving to Nebraska from Arizona and Florida, Texas is now the top destination for people choosing to leave the Cornhusker state. For the third straight year, more than 1,000 of us have moved to Texas, but all states except Oklahoma and the District of Columbia can tell a similar story.

How did Nebraska do with some other states? We:

* gained 54 from Connecticut.

* gained the most since 2004 from Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio.

* lost people to Alaska and North Dakota, only the second time to North Dakota in 21 years.

* lost only 32 people to Oregon, down from an average of 110 in all other years.

* continued to lose people to South Carolina, with 37 in 2009, the smallest since 1997, and 91 to North Carolina, down from an average of 160 in the 2000s.

So what should we conclude?

For one, it appears Nebraska must be doing something right. For another, the grass apparently appears just as green on our side of the fence as on the other.