Background and purpose: Faculty are the cornerstone of academic medicine and are important assets for any institution offering higher education. Recruitment and retention of capable faculty are essential to maintain and improve the quality of education and research performance of universities. The purpose of the present study is to discover the views, experiences, and attitudes of faculty to identify the reasons for attrition and retention of faculty in the medical universities of county cities of Iran. Methods: This is a qualitative study and the method used is of content analysis. The participants included 12 faculty transferred to type 1 university, 4 faculty with transfer request, and 4 faculty members with more than ten years of experience working in the University of county cities no relocate request. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews face to face and via telephone. To measure the trustworthiness of the data, we used four components of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability proposed by Lincoln and Guba. Results : The findings were divided into 3 categories and 14 sub-categories: the first category was the retention attractors, including 4 sub-categories of facilitated communication, proximity to type one university, gaining experience, and support of authorities; the second category was the retention threats, including 6 subcategories of social infrastructures, individual dimension, occupational dimension, economic dimension, sense of respect, and executive management dimension; and the third category was the retention strategies, including 4 sub-categories of the process of recruiting and promotion, inter-university collaboration with type one universities, facilitating scientific growth, and fulfilling the safety needs. Conclusion : Several factors play role in the retention of faculties in medical schools. Authorities can create a more positive environment by devising a suitable reward system, supporting academic activities, and increasing the level of practical autonomy of faculty to develop a sense of belonging among the workforce, and reduce the intention to transfer of their human resources.