The regions winning the talent war are ones that:
• emphasize quality of life and affordability
• start with a foundation of data and research, and
• ensure their communities have thriving job and training opportunities that their residents — and prospective residents — know about.
These were some of the takeaways from our recent webinar with Development Counsellors International (DCI) on Lightcast’s 2025 Talent Attraction Scorecard and DCI’s Talent Wars 2025 research.
The Oct. 8 webinar — watch the recording here — shared results from Lightcast and DCI’s complementary research as well as strategies and tactics to help states and regions drive real results with their talent attraction and retention programs. Given the demographic drought that every community is adapting to, talent attraction and retention programs are growing in popularity for a reason. And, yes, people are still moving.
Below are some of the tips we shared, as well as an expanded Q&A after we received many great questions that we didn't have time to answer during the live webinar.
Talent Tips and Strategies
Start with a foundation of trusted data and research: Betsy Dexter of Commerce Lexington said it best at the 2025 Young Smart and Local conference in Tulsa: “Data is your friend.” Establishing a common set of facts is paramount as you develop your talent strategy. Lightcast and DCI have struck a strategic partnership to help with just this, from surveys of alumni to labor market research on target markets.
Align around your region’s biggest talent needs: This is priority No. 1 for communities. What are the critical industries and businesses that drive your economy, and are your educational partners training for their needs, attracting learners to pursue these programs, and retaining graduates from them?
Build a compelling data story to market your community: Data is a must. Stories and anecdotes are great. The real power comes when you combine data and storytelling. For example, you can use the Talent Attraction Scorecard to see how well your region attracts prime-age talent relative to your peers, then use Lightcast data and DCI surveys/perception studies to know which regions you’re gaining or losing this talent from and why they’re moving in or out of your region. These insights will inform your strategy and storytelling.
Understand talent’s bottom line: DCI’s research shows people who have recently relocated are looking for practicality over luxury: strong quality of life, low crime, affordable prices, and economic opportunity.
Don’t forget about jobs and upskilling opportunities: While the share of those willing to risk a move without a job in place rose slightly from 2024, the majority of people (67%) still won’t relocate without their next career move locked down. Even more eye-opening from DCI’s research: 88% of those surveyed said they would be willing to upskill or reskill to shift their career path, but 32% aren’t aware of local training opportunities.
Top Questions Communities Are Asking (and Our Answers)
Here are the questions we received, with answers from Josh Wright and Matt Walsh of Lightcast and Patience Fairbrother of DCI. Questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Do people move for jobs, or are jobs (companies) moving to where people are?
DCI: Definitely a little bit of a chicken-or-egg thing because it’s a little bit of both. Our research finds that in the post-pandemic environment, people aren’t really moving for jobs the way they used to. Jobs are still driving moves, but primarily people are moving for a better quality of life, to be closer to family, and to lower their cost of living. That said, we find most people won’t move without a job. So, maybe the order of operation is a little more flipped than it used to be.
We just released the annual State of Site Selection report, which digs into what are the most important factors in corporate relocation decisions. Talent is still super important, but companies understand now that we’re living in this new normal of the demographic drought and talent scarcity. So they don’t necessarily expect you to prove you have the volume of workers anymore. What they do expect is that you show them what you’re doing to build that pipeline and how you’re proactively working to attract people.
Lightcast: We fully agree. Business investment follows talent, as consultant Jay Garner said recently at the Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum that we spoke at. State and regional leaders are hungry for information on where they stand and how to implement talent programs. This is a shift from the business attraction-first mindset that dominated economic development for decades.
Q: What’s different about talent attraction in 2025?
Lightcast: It’s no longer on the fringes of many regions’ economic development strategies. And it’s for sure more competitive than it used to be. As our 2025 Talent Attraction Scorecard showed, the regions winning are mostly in the Sun Belt and Mountain West. But there are emerging MSAs in other parts of the US, and those areas focus on the fundamentals: quality of life, affordability, strong regional anchor institutions, and important assets like childcare programs. (Explore all six key trends in our 2025 report here.)
Q: The #2 tip was about aligning around the needs of the labor market; what if the skills employers are looking for are less job-specific and more "foundational" skills like communication?
Lightcast: These foundational skills have always been critical for communities to invest in, and they’re only going to grow in importance in the age of AI. Over the past 12 months, communication has topped the list of most in-demand skills in our job postings data. And our analysis with America Succeeds on the Durable Skills initiative shows the importance of skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and leadership. In fact, 76% of all job postings include at least one durable skill.
Q: What strategies are emerging among successful mid-size and small cities to attract and retain talent?
DCI: Mid-size and smaller cities are having their moment. With the rise in importance of quality of life and cost of living in relocation decisions, these areas are outperforming their larger counterparts by offering a balance between opportunity and livability.
That said, our research indicates that many of the same strategies are going to be effective regardless of the size of the community. As Josh and I drove home in our presentation, it’s all about starting with the data — and that applies both to understanding your workforce needs and to understanding your best bet audiences and existing perceptions of your community. From there, it’s about getting super targeted with who you are going after and your community’s value proposition. For mid-size and smaller cities, lead with affordability vs. higher-cost markets, while emphasizing the depth and breadth of job opportunities available to the talent you’re trying to reach. To make the best use of resources, invest in hyper-targeted, digital-first marketing that speaks directly to your audience and their pain points vs. top-of-funnel tactics, which can often be more expensive and more difficult to track in terms of ROI.
Lightcast: In addition to the great tips from DCI, we encourage small and mid-sized cities to invest in the assets that will keep their residents happy and appeal to remote workers and talent with young families. What are these assets? Strong schools and childcare, lively community programs, good infrastructure, low crime, diverse job opportunities, and easy access to training and upskilling. Our Talent Attraction Scorecard analysis found a metro area with a high share of remote workers is correlated with prime-age in-migration, attracting the population that drives long-term regional competitiveness.
Q: Some places are concerned that they 'should be' active in business & talent attraction, maybe incentivizing both, and so are paying on both ends. Thoughts?
Lightcast: The reality is there are successful, longstanding talent attraction programs like Boomerang Greensboro and Hello West Michigan that don’t offer cash incentives. Similarly, there are regions that are attractive to relocating businesses without offering the most incentives. For regions and states to be successful in both talent and business attraction, it first requires serving current workers and businesses well, and that requires investing in unsexy things like reliable city services. Our encouragement is to “pay” for these things first and foremost and allow your existing residents and employers to be your strongest advocates.
DCI: Our research on both talent and business decision-makers suggests that incentives are a “cherry on top” of a relocation decision. No company or individual will make a relocation decision based solely on an incentive. In fact, our Talent Wars research found that the majority of those who accepted an incentive as part of a relocation decision were already planning to move to that location. Similarly, on the business investment side, corporate executives and site selection consultants will wait until a short list has been developed to consider what incentive packages are available. The location must first fulfill their primary must-have factors. While incentives can certainly be an effective component of business and talent attraction strategies — with best-in-class examples like Tulsa Remote — our counsel is to first ensure that you are addressing the foundational needs of these audiences and to make incentives part of your toolbox for attraction, but not your entire sales pitch.
Q: As far as blue-collar worker shortages, are local skilled programs increasing companies' consideration?
DCI: Our research suggests that self-identified white-collar and blue-collar workers are motivated by the same factors and are about equally likely to relocate for a job opportunity, so places should think both about attraction and development/retention of individuals in these professions. Local workforce development and credentialing programs are absolutely part of building the kind of workforce that companies need to see in order to invest. Showing that your community is focused on all phases of the talent pipeline will send a strong signal to businesses that you’re serious about meeting their workforce needs.
Lightcast: We very much agree with DCI here — the more investment in blue-collar workforce programs, the better you set up your community to be a leader in this critically important area. AI may be coming for white-collar jobs (it hasn’t had a huge impact yet), but the skilled trades are in desperate need for workers. Many regions that do well in our Talent Attraction Scorecard can’t find enough blue-collar workers (a new component of our scoring this year). This imbalance, as we wrote in the key trends section, risks undermining these regions’ ability to build new housing, maintain infrastructure, and provide essential services that depend on a stable base of skilled trades.
Explore the Talent Attraction Scorecard
See where your region ranks!
To learn more about trends affecting the global labor market like AI, labor shortages, and geopolitics, read our latest research, Fault Lines.
