Pennsylvania population losses starting to bring additional cause for concern. Some of those declines, experts believe, may be tied to the higher taxation policies that are impacting businesses while trickling down to residents.

One of the most pressing concerns comes from the largest city in the western portion of the state. “Pittsburgh is losing people, jobs, and investment. The city still hasn’t recovered pre-pandemic employment and has a problem of retaining young talent,” Charles Mitchell, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, wrote for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “While Pittsburgh attracts students to its well-respected universities, around half of the graduates go to other cities to work. People aren’t just leaving Pittsburgh. They’re abandoning Pennsylvania.”

One of the largest tax increases in the last decade has been at the gas pumps. Before the increased fees, Pennsylvania fuel prices were always lower than neighboring New York. Now, we’re often higher.

Mitchell, in that same article, noted that 250,000 Pennsylvanians have moved to other states in the last decade and almost half of voters have considered moving or know someone who has. That means wealth from Pennsylvania has flowed to Texas, North Carolina and especially Florida.

None of this bodes well for rural areas such as ours.