To Stop Brain Drain, Pennsylvania Must Undo Regulations That Were Meant to Keep Young Families Out

Originally published by PennLive.

Keystone State leaders often bemoan “brain drain,” the loss of skilled, working-age residents through domestic migration to other states. One way Pennsylvania can prevent out-migration and attract young families is by undoing onerous housing regulations, including some that cities and towns embraced 80 years ago to ban starter homes and keep babies out.

Over the past decade, Pennsylvania’s population grew by only 1.24 percent, ranking 41st among U.S. states. That population growth was almost entirely due to immigration, according to data compiled by USA Facts. Between 2023 and 2024, the commonwealth’s population growth was mostly limited to southeastern counties and the I-95 corridor.

In the 2010s, the demographic silver lining was that births outnumbered deaths in Pennsylvania. But starting in 2020, this natural population change went negative, yielding “baby deficits”—deaths outnumbering births—of more than 12,000 in 2023, almost 10,000 in 2024, and nearly 11,000 in 2025.

Read more at PennLive.