I once spent a long day interviewing in Lufkin Texas for a job in College Station. At some point someone observed, "Nobody moves to Lufkin unless their from Lufkin." I wasn't the best of the best, but I was good enough that they paid my way out for the interview, and when they didn't offer me the job in College Station but one in Lufkin instead, the observation was in fact astute.

If the young are leaving, I'd suggest focusing on finding someone older who is more amenable to the lifestyle. If there aren't any old developers locally, then there won't be any really good young one's. But you might get an older developer to relocate to a place without any action.

Good luck.