The population of North Dakota has exploded in recent years after decades of population drain, and the state is now surprisingly the fastest growing state in the nation, increasing by 10 percent in a 50-month period that ended last June according to the Census — and it’s the people who abandoned the state who are coming back.

Although the pace dropped off in 2014, North Dakota is still No. 1, with growth at 2 percent last year due to a lack of housing rather than the dropping oil prices, although thousands of oil workers were laid off in recent months, which could slow down people coming from out of state, according to an Associated Press report.

Many of the people who have returned to the state are in their 20s and 30s and appeared to be coming home after being forced out of the state to find other opportunities to begin with.

With skyrocketing rents, a housing shortage, and oil prices dropping, some oil counties have lost 15 percent of their senior citizens, who have left for cheaper pastures. Many of those did return, though, returning to their roots after years away from their home state.

In the past, there wasn’t much reason to stick around North Dakota after college, meaning that people who grew up in the state were often forced to look elsewhere for opportunities.

However, the oil boom changed things, and even though prices have plummeted, no one appears to be panicking, according to the report.

North Dakota is an oil-rich state, with billions of dollars worth buried in the prairie just waiting to be extracted, and it’s providing plenty of jobs to the state.