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Commencement ceremonies are filling auditoriums and quads this month, with thousands of newly minted graduates collecting their degrees from the Commonwealth’s more than 100 colleges and universities. However, a new Pioneer Institute report finds that many of them won’t stay.
The study, which tracked the interstate movement of over 1,000 college graduates, found that Massachusetts loses 35 percent of its graduates after commencement while only attracting 20 percent back from other states. The imbalance produces a significant net loss of educated workers.
Employment opportunities are the dominant factor. Among Massachusetts-educated graduates who left the state, 57 percent cited jobs as their primary reason for leaving. Massachusetts is one of just six states to lose private-sector jobs since the start of the pandemic.
The Commonwealth’s graduates move to states with income and payroll taxes 13 percent lower, property taxes 27 percent lower, and government employment 18 percent lower than the states where they earned their degrees. Massachusetts income and payroll taxes run 46 percent above the national average.
“Massachusetts is educating talent for other states,” said report author Josh Bedi, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. “States that retain talent are not just educating students — they are creating environments where those students can build their careers.”
The losses are steepest among international graduates. Massachusetts has the highest share of international students of any state at 18 percent of total enrollment, yet only about 24 of every 100 foreign-born graduates educated here remain long-term. These graduates file patents, create startups, and attract venture capital at disproportionate rates. Tightening federal visa policy threatens to accelerate those losses further.
The report recommends policies aimed at expanding job opportunities and strengthening the private sector economy so that more graduates can choose to build their careers in Massachusetts. These include cutting income and property taxes and reforming occupational licensing. Massachusetts requires an average of 511 days of training to obtain a license for a low- or middle-income job, the most burdensome regime in New England.
“Massachusetts may invest heavily in talent, but it is not capturing the returns,” said Jim Stergios, Executive Director of Pioneer Institute. “People will stay only if the private sector is growing jobs and new businesses—that is the core challenge for policymakers interested in attracting and retaining young talent.”
The full report, “Sowing, but Not Reaping: The Gap Between Enrollment and Retention of College Graduates in Massachusetts and New England,” is available at www.pioneerinstitute.org.
