FORT WAYNE — Former South Bend residents Cynthia andDerrick Wozniak are young and highly educated — just the kindof people a state suffering from a prolonged ''brain drain'' cannotafford to lose.
The couple joined that exodus when they left for Sarasota, Fla.,trading harsh northern winters for a home 20 minutes from the balmyGulf Coast.
''I taught in Indiana for four years, and a lot of it was thewinter weather: getting up in the morning and scraping ice off thewindow,'' said Cynthia Wozniak, 33.
Their story is just one of thousands that have given Indiana thenation's worst record in keeping well-educated 25- to 34-year-oldsfrom moving out of state, according to an analysis of U.S. CensusBureau figures prepared by The Journal Gazette.
For a variety of reasons — chiefly higher-paying jobs andwarmer climates -- Indiana is losing some of its best-educatedresidents.
According to the results of the analysis the newspaper publishedSunday, one out of three people born in Indiana lived out of statein 2000.
That ratio has changed little for two decades, but it conceals amore sobering fact -- the people who have left the state represent60 percent of native Hoosiers with incomes of $100,000 or more.
Likewise, transplants from other states make up a third ofIndiana's population but represent nearly half of those in thestate with incomes of $100,000 or more.
Young and highly educated, the former Hoosiers represent acoveted segment of the population, and Indiana is losing more ofthem than any other state.
More people in that group —- those with at least abachelor's degree — left the state than entered between 1995and 2000, for an estimated net loss of 17,000, according to censusdata.
Of those who left, a large number -- more than one in three --were native Hoosiers. Many others, state census analysts say,presumably came from other states to attend Indiana colleges andleft after graduation.
People in the 25- to-34-year-old age group have been describedas important because of their spending power. They are raisingfamilies, shopping for homes and ''driving the new hi-techeconomy,'' according to MarketResearch.com, which compilesdemographic and other research.
As for higher education, only 46 percent of native Hoosiers withat least a bachelor's degree live in Indiana.
That is not unusual. Two-thirds of the states have less than 50percent retention. Texas, with a 69 percent retention rate tops thelist, followed by California, with 67 percent retention.
Still, native Hoosiers living outside the state are more likelyto be company chief executives, and those who stay put are morelikely to be blue collar workers.
Craig A. Baker, a Columbia City computer applications developer,Purdue University graduate and Fort Wayne native considered a moveto North Carolina's famous science park.
''I thought about going to Research Triangle a couple oftimes,'' he said. ''I could have gone to New York or something likethat. But I decided it wasn't for me.
What holds Brown and Baker to the state has no apparent pull onmany others.
Michael McNees, 48, left Indiana for a job coaching track inLouisiana after graduating from Indiana University in 1977. Hemoved to Florida in 1980 with a national gas distribution companyand now runs the city of Sarasota as its city manager. His fatherstill lives in Brownsburg.
McNees said it's coincidental that only recently did he questionthe implications of his leaving Indiana.
''I moved to opportunities I had,'' he said. ''I never made aconscious decision to move away from Indiana. Did I ever considerlooking for a job in Indiana? The answer is no, I never did.''
For transplanted Hoosiers, Florida is the most popular statewith about 240,000 Indiana-born residents. The highestconcentrations are on the gulf coast, in cities such as Sarasota,Bradenton and Naples, and many of them are retirees.
Illinois is second most popular with 201,000 native Hoosiers,followed by California with 160,000.
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