Mike Lee is the new chair of the Joint Economic Committee, which just released a study of "brain drain" effects on different states.
https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/in...5-48644F31E624
Synopsis - over long periods of time, Americans with higher levels of education have been more likely to migrate to other states. The destinations of their migration have disproportionately been the West Coast and the NE. Areas disproportionately hurt have been the eastern heartland, rust belt and the SE. The western heartland has seen modest benefits of these migrations.
The longitudinal data is impressive - 1940-2017. Large urban areas seeing the most dramatic benefits of concentrations of highly educated Americans are LA, San Francisco, New York & Chicago.
(This study will probably spawn a lot of interesting discussions & derivative research.)