By JOHN FLESHER
Kevin Breen gets the occasional you-gotta-be-kidding stare when telling people he moved from the Boston area to southeastern Michigan -- voluntarily.
"They ask if I had to, and I say no, it was a choice," the 41-year-old said Monday. "We could have gone elsewhere."
Breen arrived in July, becoming a school administrator in Grosse Pointe Woods near Detroit. He took up residence in neighboring Grosse Pointe Park with his wife and two children, ages 9 and 6.
Attracting productive, well-educated families like the Breens from other states is crucial for breathing new life into Michigan's sagging economy. But a U.S. Census Bureau report being released Tuesday suggests it remains an uphill climb.
The data shows that 80.9 percent of the people living in Michigan last year were born there. Only Louisiana (82.2 percent) and New York (82.1 percent) had higher shares of native-born residents.
And the Detroit area's figure of 81.9 percent was highest in the nation among large metropolitan regions, followed by New York City and Chicago.
High proportions of native-born residents are common in the Upper Midwest. Pennsylvania trails Michigan at 79.4 percent, followed by Ohio (77.8), Illinois (77.4), Iowa and Wisconsin (both 75.2).
The figures were from the 2007 American Community Survey, the government's annual survey of about 3 million households nationwide.
An optimist might say such numbers partly reflect home-state satisfaction.
"I think the fact that so many people have chosen to stay and live and work in Michigan and raise families here is a testimony to the fundamental strength of our state," said Rich Studley, president and CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
But fondness for home cooking isn't the likeliest explanation, demographers said, noting the comparatively low proportion of native-born residents in states experiencing boom times. Just 28.5 percent of Nevada's residents are originally from there. Alaska's rate is 41.7 percent, followed by 41.9 in Florida, 42.2 in Arizona and 43.4 in Wyoming.
Many of the low-percentage states are Sun Belt retiree havens. Still, they are drawing plenty of working families as well -- sometimes at Michigan's expense.
Michigan is losing the battle to attract young newcomers with four-year college degrees and to retain graduates from its own colleges and universities, said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc., a nonpartisan research organization in Ann Arbor.
Mike Bahr, 35, left for Chicago after graduating from Michigan State University. He knows "a ton" of other natives who did likewise.
He'd like to return home, but is among those still seeking the right job opportunity.
"I'm not willing to take just anything to get back there," said Bahr. "I want something interesting and creative and compelling."
