GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio — At a quaint corner market, where fresh melons, peaches and tomatoes are piled high outside, owner Mary Kay Rife greets customers by their first names, often asking about their children, parents or grandparents.

        “We've watched generations of families come through and they've watched us grow up,” explains the fourth-generation Ohioan as she loads packages of freshly cut meat into a brown paper bag at Rife's Market in this Columbus suburb.

        “Lots of people who are born here do seem to stay here,” added Ms. Rife, 38.

        That's how it is throughout the state, where three out of four Ohioans are natives, according to figures the U.S. Census Bureau released Monday.

        The statistics don't come from the national headcount taken in 2000 but from a supplementary survey distributed at the same time to 700,000 households in 1,203 counties nationwide.

        The survey indicates that only four other states besides Ohio have such a large share of natives — that is, people who did not migrate from another state or country. Michigan and Mississippi have roughly the same as Ohio's 74 percent.

        Only Louisiana and Pennsylvania have more, 78 percent or nearly eight in 10. The national average is about six in 10.

        Of the estimated 2.4 million Ohioans born in other states, about half came from the South, a fifth from the Midwest and another fifth from the Northeast. Migrating from the West to Ohio is much less common.

        The figures reflect trends fa miliar to demographers. For decades, waves of Southerners moved to the historically more prosperous North for jobs.

        And since Ohio was founded in 1803, generations of Ohioans have stayed put, said Sherry Potochnik, an education specialist at the Ohio Historical Society's Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, which has an Ohio migration exhibit.

        People go where there are jobs, and because Ohio always had plenty, its residents historically have seen no reason to leave, she added.

        “Ohio had a lot of established cities, more so than other states,” Ms. Potochnik said. “People only moved as far away as they had to.”

        Nowadays, it's difficult to tell from the numbers alone why such a large percentage of Ohio-born people choose to remain in the state, said Lawrence A. Brown, a demographer and chairman of the geography department at Ohio State University.

        While many Ohioans might have lived here all their lives, other natives might have moved away, but then returned for family or economic reasons, Mr. Brown said.

        “It is possible that people really like Ohio, and leave but then come back to be close to their relatives or for jobs, which is likely because nationally Ohio has a pretty robust economy,” he said.

        Both of those reasons are why Darren Burden moved back to Ohio from New York, where he had lived since 1993.

        “All that, and the cost of living is so much cheaper here,” said the 24-year-old Bexley resident as he ate lunch with five co-workers at a downtown mall where he is a retail manager.

        Sarah Weidner, 21, of Columbus, doesn't plan to move out of Ohio ever and doesn't believe she will miss out on anything.

        “I'm from a small town in northwest Ohio — Fostoria — so this big city is experience enough,” Ms. Weidner said while taking a break from her job as a retail sales associate. “I have no desire to ever leave.”

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