Home state loyalty: the 38-state retention index

Recruit Intel asked one question about every state with a real Power Four signee pool: when a player from that state signs with a Power Four program, how often does he stay home. Iowa keeps 70.6% of its own. Georgia, the fourth largest signee pool in this study, keeps 18.6% (394 of 2,116), the lowest among the 34 states that field their own Power Four program. Four states with a real sample keep exactly none of their in-state talent, because no Power Four program plays there at all.

The population is every player in the Recruit Intel database with a recorded Power Four commitment and a known home state, 24,146 players across every class we carry, not one signing cycle. 38 states clear our 100-signee floor for a real sample. The top 10 by retention rate are below. The full 38-state table, every qualifying state, is a premium piece.

Top 10 states by home state retention

• Iowa: 70.6% (161 of 228 stayed home)
• Utah: 67.8% (259 of 382 stayed home)
• Mississippi: 56.4% (316 of 560 stayed home)
• Kentucky: 55.9% (114 of 204 stayed home)
• Arkansas: 55.1% (108 of 196 stayed home)
• Minnesota: 54.6% (106 of 194 stayed home)
• Nebraska: 51.2% (63 of 123 stayed home)
• North Carolina: 49.4% (407 of 824 stayed home)
• Wisconsin: 48.9% (115 of 235 stayed home)
• Kansas: 48.2% (123 of 255 stayed home)

Only 7 of the 38 qualifying states keep a majority of their own. Where Georgia, Texas, Florida and California, the four biggest signee pools in the country, land against that top 10 is in the full table below.