As upcoming Drake University graduates search for jobs or places to further their education, whether they stay in or leave Iowa will be a question they have to answer. While each graduate’s reason is personal, patterns and trends emerging in Iowa may impact their decisions. 

Drake students choose to stay or leave 

According to a 2024 Drake Measures of Success report, 97.3% of newly graduated students who responded to a survey were “employed, enrolled in graduate or professional school, or involved in an activity related to their professional goals.” 

49.6% of respondents chose to remain in Iowa, “as a direct result of Drake’s strong partnership with the community, and the extensive opportunities in the state.” 

Timm Pilcher, assistant director of career services and academic advising specialist for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said that every student’s decision on where to go after graduation is based on different factors, but he has noticed patterns. He believes that graduates who are from Iowa are more likely to leave the state, while graduates who are from out of state have formed connections in the state that make them want to stay. 

Nick Hankins is one senior with this story. He came to Drake from Pequot Lakes, Minnesota, and wants to stay in Des Moines after graduation because of the community he has formed. 

“I’m very involved with Campus Fellowship and very involved with a lot of people that are in music, and so I’ve kind of curated a lot of references, a lot of good people to hang out with, and I think long term it’d be helpful at least for the next two, three years or so,” Hankins said. 

Hankins believes Des Moines is a great city to live in for its mix of urban and suburban environments. 

“It’s very much more evident what’s going on as opposed to the average city where it’s a little bit too clustered,” Hankins said. 

Iowa’s economic factors affect jobs available 

The economy may factor in student decisions. According to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, Iowa’s economy is in high risk of a recession. This impacts the jobs available for young graduates.  

Abrielle Luther, a third-year at Drake Law School, is planning to move back to her home state of Minnesota after graduation. While her main factor in moving back is to be closer to her family, she also believes Minnesota has more opportunities in her desired field. 

“I’m more interested in business law, and there’s more businesses in Minnesota, or like larger businesses, than there are in Iowa,” Luther said. 

According to Drake Law School’s employment statistics, 89% of graduates stay in the West North Central region of the U.S., which includes Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. Luther said she knows more people from networking in the Minnesota region. 

Karis Tuve, a neuroscience student, is graduating in December and recently finished applying to graduate programs. When applying, she looked at lab rotations, interdisciplinarity of the program, funding and closeness to her home state of Minnesota. 

Tuve’s current top choices are the Mayo Clinic and the University of Chicago, though Tuve applied to the University of Iowa as well. However, the University of Iowa had few programs that Tuve was interested in. 

“Outside of Mercy and Unity Point, the hospitals, there’s not really a lot of research opportunities for me here,” Tuve said. “And then the ones at the hospitals don’t really have a lot of listings posted, or they require you to do a little bit more training, which I only have seven months before graduate school. So it doesn’t really fit with my timeline at all.” 

 Tuve said that she would have loved to spend a few more months in Des Moines with her friends, but that financially, moving to the Mayo Clinic where she has a temporary job position would be the best move between graduation and beginning higher education. 

“It was just kind of, like, disappointing that —
I feel like, at least in Des Moines, since it’s the capital, and one of the bigger cities in Iowa, there would be a little bit more opportunities, but I guess I overestimated it a little bit,” Tuve said. 

Young professionals leaving causes “brain drain” 

Many young people are choosing to leave the state, causing a pattern of brain drain. Brain drain is when young, educated professionals leave the state in high numbers to find employment. This often leads to less tax revenue in the drained area. A 2024 Iowa Workforce Development survey of students titled “Retaining Iowa’s Talent” found that 38% of respondents had plans to leave the state post-graduation or program completion. 

Pilcher has been hearing about Iowa’s brain drain for years. Pilcher said the opportunities available to graduates are a large factor.

“It used to be that even farmers would send their children to places like Iowa State University,” Pilcher said. “Those children would come back and take over the farming duties. 
They’d go and get a degree in ag science or something. And we don’t have that as much anymore because many of our farms are being taken over by larger corporations.” 

Another factor, Pilcher said, is Iowa’s aging population. As Iowa’s population of older residents grows, services and amenities in the state will be geared towards them rather than younger people.

Des Moines, however, goes against those trends, Pilcher said, with the city having designed amenities like a skate park or the East Village that younger people enjoy. 

“As much as it’s nice to have the cultural attractions, you still have to have the jobs to be able to pull those in, right?” Pilcher said. “Des Moines’ economy has been mostly based on finance, banking, insurance. And those arenas have gotten a little sketchy, so the brain drain is a very real thing, and it will continue unless overall the state reimagines what it looks like for young professionals.”