Dylan McCallum isn't ready to leave Kootenai County.

"If I can get a job here, I want to stay," the North Idaho College student said as he strolled across campus with friends. "I like it here."

The 19-year-old forestry student admitted he didn't know what the local job market is like these days.

Regardless, he wants to remain close to his home.

"It's got a small town feel, but at the same time has more to it, big city qualities," McCallum explained. "It has the best of both worlds."

Not everyone is so bent on sticking to their roots.

In fact, more seem to be fleeing.

A growing number of counties across the U.S. are watching their populations slip away, according to 2007-2009 census numbers, as younger residents abandon their home towns and cities for better opportunities.

According to the census stats, 760 out of 3,142 counties are experiencing natural decrease, or more deaths than births.

"Over time, the young adult population diminishes," said Ken Johnson, demographer with the University of New Hampshire who analyzed the census numbers. "(Young adults) leave to go to other places, urban places or go to college, and don't return."

The result is geriatric-strong populations that gradually die off, Johnson said.

"There are few young people to produce a new population to replace them," he said.

The trend has started occurring more recently in Idaho, Johnson said.

That has been compounded, he added, by more individuals driven away by job loss and foreclosures.

"The recession may have exacerbated the problem, but it was already occurring in Idaho prior to that," Johnson said.

Opinions vary on how strongly Kootenai County residents are glued here, and how well the area attracts new transplants.

"I think Kootenai County's economy is pretty diversified, so that helps," said Alivia Body, regional economist for the Idaho Department of Labor.

Body believes local health care jobs and temp work in administrative support services have prevented residents from renting moving trucks, she said.

"The smaller size of the firms has also helped Kootenai County weather the recession better than a lot of places," Body said. "You don't see the depressed areas as much."

New residents are still streaming in, she added, pointing out that the county's population rose 28 percent from 2007 to 2009.

County births outnumbered deaths 1,770 to 1,141 in 2009, according to Idaho Vital Statistics.

"We're still showing growth," Body said.

And many current residents aren't leaving, according to Paul Donnolo with Community Action Partnership, which provides assistance for low-income individuals.

They can't afford to, he said.

"Over the past seven years or so, a lot of folks moved here from more urban areas for a better lifestyle," Donnolo said.

A large number discovered that local wages can't keep up with the cost of living, he said.

"Many folks that we have seen from other areas have blown through their savings in a year or two and land on our doorstep," he said. "Usually then they are unable to move due to lack of resources."

Even with the area's strong population base, Commissioner Dan Green admitted that new residents aren't flocking to the county like they used to.

"Right now, I think people aren't really coming. They have to sell their properties to be able to come here," he said.

He has no premonitions of the county becoming a ghost town, though.

The crystalline lakes and forests will always be a draw for new residents, he said.

"The natural resources we have will continue to attract people over time, as long as we manage those resources prudently," he said.

Johnson acknowledged that recreational areas are better fortified against natural decrease.

"(They) attract a lot of amenity migrants," he said. "While amenity migrants tend to be older, fewer younger people leave, because people are coming. It gives more opportunities for young people to stay."

Netting in opportunities to attract new residents - and entice current ones to stay - is the chief goal for Steve Griffitts, President of Jobs Plus economic development corporation.

"The reason Jobs Plus was formed in 1987 was because people weren't staying," said Griffitts, who recruits businesses to relocate to Kootenai County. "The reason I'm doing this job is to allow for opportunities so people don't have to relocate and leave."

He's still having success, he said, even with the increased obstacles of the recession.

Jobs Plus gained some new companies for the area this past year, he said, and businesses previously recruited have continued to hire over the last year.

"All indicators are very positive. And yet there's much to do," Griffitts said. "We're doing everything we can to ensure more and more opportunities exist within our local economy."

Many who have lost their jobs in the area have chosen to go back to school rather than leave, said Mike Mires, dean of professional, technical and workforce education at NIC.

"A lot of students who are in that (situation) basically have come back for retraining," he said, adding that many are signing up for mechanics and diesel programs. "The want to retrain here is probably a lot greater than their willingness to move away."

Many new students plan to remain in the area after they graduate, he added, in spite of the tough economy.

"It's home, and they prefer the region," Mires said.

NIC is trying to help, he added, by pursuing new training programs in industries thriving in the recession, like the aerospace industry.

"We're going to move toward where we see the growth," he said.

Devonna Williams, an 18-year-old NIC student, said once her prereqs are out of the way, she will leave North Idaho to pursue a Physician Assistant program, which isn't offered at local institutions.

"I love Coeur d'Alene. It makes me sad I can't go to school for that here," said Williams, a native of the city.

Once her education is complete, she'll go wherever her career leads her.

She wouldn't mind returning to her hometown, though.

"I've been other places, and the people are different. It's just there's more common courtesy here," she said.

Geoff Keogh, 21, prefers to study carpentry at NIC than chase jobs right now, he said.

"I think going to school is the better option. I think many are following that, looking at how enrollment numbers are up," said Keogh, originally from Missoula, Mont. "If you can't find a job, educate yourself, so you can find a better job when the economy comes back."

He can't say where he'll end up, Keogh added.

"It really depends on where my job takes me," he said.

Katherine McKeown said she has encountered many folks seeking work outside their home towns.

An employee of a federal agency, McKeown said some of her coworkers commute from as far as Osburn, Worley, Wallace and Sandpoint to work in Coeur d'Alene.

"They have to," said McKeown, in her 50s. "Jobs are scarce."

Although she is content to stay in the Lake City for awhile, where she has a job and can stroll by the lake even in the snow, she wouldn't be surprised if others have to look elsewhere for opportunities, she said.

"There's not a lot of good paying jobs, and service jobs are what are available," she said. "A lot of people want these jobs, regardless of age, if they have to make ends meet."