Legislators address Pennsylvania’s population drain

ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Pennsylvania Rural Population Revitalization Commission met Friday in Altoona to discuss how to plug the population drain in rural Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s population is declining — rapidly.

“Our young people are moving out of the area. So I think it’s important upon us to show our young people that were brought up, to show them the benefits of living here and the jobs and the kind of careers they can have here in our communities,” said Senator Judy Ward (R-30th District).

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania estimates a population drain equivalent of thousands of residents each year since 2020. This is partially due to low birth rates, and the growing maternity care desert in Central Pennsylvania’s northern region has lawmakers worried that trend will only get worse.

“The failure of hospitals to deliver maternity care is very multifaceted. But we we have to find a way to help families in our commonwealth with maternity care and the fact that there are seven counties in our northern tier that have no maternity services is alarming and, quite frankly, unacceptable. So we have to do better,” Ward said.

But even if young couples move in, there’s challenges to keeping them and their school aged children in rural Pa.

“One of the challenges that we have in the commonwealth is that our funding models are far too reliant on local property taxes. So as a result, the opportunities for students in urban or in many rural communities are not the same as in more affluent school districts,” said Representative Paul Takac (D-82nd District).

And keeping those kids here once they graduate.

“We certainly need to create opportunities for young people to stay in Pennsylvania. A lot of them have to go elsewhere because of student loan debt, because of job opportunities, because of some of the very practical things like we heard about today,” Takac said.

The Pennsylvania Rural Population Revitalization Commission is a bipartisan legislative agency focused on addressing those challenges through rural-centered policy. They met in Altoona to hear from local and regional municipal leaders about challenges specific to rural residents and brainstorm some solutions.

“We have many issues in parts of the commonwealth where it may be a health care desert of a food desert or a service desert where there is no bank for a long stretch. So you know, being able to address those capacity issues will allow us to attract students into the commonwealth and keep them here,” Takac said.