Young adults are leaving Berkshire County at an alarming rate. This is contributing to an already sagging population, down about 10 percent since 1970. Now, officials are trying to figure out why the Berkshires aren’t an attractive place for people under 40.
Like many parts of the country, Berkshire County once relied heavily on large scale manufacturers. From closed paper mills to the massive job losses when General Electric closed up shop in Pittsfield, most of those jobs are long gone. And an economy pegged in recent years to tourism and the arts has failed to keep or attract young people.
The Berkshire Planning Commission recently polled more than 3,000 young adults who lived in the Berkshires, or used to. Mark Maloy of the commission unveiled the results of the study at a public meeting last month.
“The biggest thing was jobs,” Maloy says. “What they want to do isn’t available, or they’re not able to advance in their career.”
Among the people who left, it wasn’t just about jobs. They talked about a lack of nightlife, things to do and crime. And for those who left but would consider returning, Maloy says they’re focused on the personal.
“The biggest reason was family and the natural scenery we have here,” Maloy says.
One person who returned for family is Ashley McLean. She works as a manager at Berkshire Medical Systems, and she’s been on both sides of the issue She is a Pittsfield native in her late 20’s who left to go to college in Vermont. After that, like many her age, she had plans to put the Berkshires in the rear-view mirror.
“I really didn’t have much interest or thought in coming back to the Berkshires,” McLean says. “Mostly because I didn’t think there were many opportunities out here for young people. I knew a lot of my friends were moving to big cities, like Boston and New York, and that just kind of seemed like the next step for me, and I thought that was the best place to find a good job.”
So she moved to the Boston area and met her future husband. And it was her father becoming seriously ill which brought her back west. The plan was to stay for a year, but that was 5 years ago.
“Thinks just worked out for us organically,” McLean says. “We both work for the health system and have great jobs and have been able to be open to great opportunities, just a lucrative as the ones we had in Boston, which was the biggest surprise to me.”
Especially with the lower cost of living. McLean says she is here to stay.
Then there are those who left and wish they could return. Another Berkshire native, Beth Holland left eleven years ago to pursue a career in international law.
“You need to somehow get that foothold in the professional area you’re hoping to star a career in,” Holland says. “For me, Boston or New York or [Washington] D.C. really was the best option.
And Boston it was, where she became an attorney and now works as a consultant. Holland says she comes back often to see family and friends and if given the chance, she would return in a heartbeat. That would be difficult at this point though, as both she and her husband have positions that require them to live near Boston. But she sees coming back to the Berkshires as a possibility in the future.
“Maybe once we’re more established in our careers and we gain a certain degree of seniority, then flexible schedules, telecommuting, etc., might make make a move to the Berkshires a viable option down the road,” Holland says.
For those that do live in Berkshire County, they are experiencing the impacts. State Representative Smitty Pignatelli was born and raised in Lenox. He says an older population — the second oldest by county in Massachusetts — makes for a more service-based economy, which doesn’t lend itself to much growth potential. And fewer people of any age means fewer tax dollars for cities and towns to spend on things like road repairs and public safety, at a time when communities are already facing rising costs.
And that brings us to school districts, which Pignatelli says are starting to share services and may even have to merge.
“Do we really need 13 different schools [districts] in Berkshire County with the population we have right now?” Pignatelli says. “I think we have some real soul-searching to do. Some real tough decisions need to be made.”
As for trying to keep, or attract, young people in the Berkshires, Pignatelli says it goes back to jobs. The planning commission report suggests attracting more businesses in the tech sector, developing more non-seasonal jobs and improving education in local schools.
“How about the young people who are here, giving them that opportunity, namely a job or a career path, to call the Berkshires their home?” Pignatelli says. “I’ve been blessed to call the Berkshires my home my entire life. I’m not sure my kids will be able to make that same claim if we don’t make some adjustments going forward.”
And it might be an uphill battle. Some projections call for Berkshire County’s population to continue to decrease for decades to come.