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• Getting young people to return home can be a challenge, but there are lots of innovative ways that communities can explore to entice them to return.  Many times, migrating young adults haven't moved far from home. Most outmigration in rural South Dakota happens in what McCurry calls a "kind of two-step process," where, after college or military service, young adults will return to their home state, but settle in larger cities near their hometowns.  It's not until the next generation that people leave the state completely.  This means that if young adults return to their hometowns to start their families instead of moving to nearby cities, it can make a huge difference, keeping enrollment up in local schools and providing more support for local businesses.  And now, moving back to a small town for a career is becoming more and more viable thanks to the increasing popularity of the online office, allowing people to work online from home. 
• While the data from the census and population projections seems to paint a bleak picture for the future many rural counties, the outlook for South Dakota is not inevitable: Dakotans are already making an effort to reverse these trends and bring young people into the state, both through local efforts and statewide initiatives like the Dakota Roots program. The high quality and low cost of living, combined with a stable job market, already attracts attention in the current tough economic times.
• The data does make clear, however, that the continuation of the status quo is going to lead to a difficult future for those communities that don't try to shift course.
• Ryan Clay is a freelance writer living in Aberdeen, S.D.