Louisvillians Weigh In

Boomerang: Why We Return to Louisville

Cover slide: a hand-drawn diagram of a boomerang's flight path, labeled starting point, swerves to left, up, and glides back. Headline: Boomerang — do young folks tend to come back home to Louisville?
Question: Do you agree that people who leave Louisville tend to move back? Pie chart results: 57 percent yep, 21 percent it's complicated, 18 percent not sure, 4 percent nope.
From the weekly questions: A member of our weekly Q and A group asked us to send a question about boomerangers who come back to Louisville. The member's hunch that it seems to be a thing was confirmed by our group. So we asked why: what makes the kids come back? Take a guess before swiping.
Question: Percentage of us who think these qualities bring people back. Cost of living 77 percent, good place to raise a family 60 percent, sense of community 50 percent, neighborhoods 47 percent, pace of life 42 percent, parks and outdoors 42 percent, easy to get to other places from here 36 percent, the arts and culture scene 28 percent, emphasis on local 24 percent, job market 6 percent.
Interesting: Cost of living, family living, community living are the things Americans say they want most in national polls. But job market was chosen least as a reason folks come back. This week we also did a pulse check, which we do every so often, on what folks think the city's main challenges are right now.
Question: In a word, what's the biggest challenge our community faces right now? A word cloud of responses, with the largest words being economy, crime, politics, division, guns, safety, racism, policing, violence and disconnection.
We'll keep asking: The top reason for returning was cost of living. The least-cited reason was job market, and economy is one of the top challenges. Made us wonder: is there a link between affordability and a less sizzling job market? Would a Nashville-like market bring high cost of living? If so, is there a happy balance between them? Nominate a caring Louisvillian to join the group, including yourself.