By: Nick Binotti
Illinois’ population woes continue. Not only is Illinois’ population shrinking overall, it’s also experiencing a consistent brain-drain of well-educated adults.
In 2022, Illinois experienced a net loss of 54,000 educated residents age 25 and older to other states. That was the result of 159,000 educated adults moving out of Illinois to other states, while just 105,000 moved into Illinois from other states. Wirepoints defines educated adults as those with at least some college education, or an associate’s, bachelor’s or graduate degree. Illinois experienced losses in every one of these groups.
The data comes from annual U.S. Census Bureau reports that measure “geographical mobility” within the country based on individual movers’ educational attainment.
Illinois experienced the 3rd-worst net domestic out-migration of educated adults in the country. Only California and New York ranked worse, both experiencing net losses of 148,905 and 121,446 adults, respectively. Massachusetts and Maryland rounded out the bottom five. (See Appendix for all individual state data.)
In contrast, Florida and Texas continued their domination over in-migration, showing net gains of 144,915 and 75,583 educated adults, respectively. North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona ranked in the top five as well.
Illinois experienced losses in each of the Census Bureau’s top three educational-attainment groups: those who attended some college or received an associate’s degree, those who attained a bachelor’s degree and those who obtained a graduate or professional degree.
Unfortunately, this is not a new trend. Illinois has averaged a net loss of nearly 55,000 educated adults to other states annually since at least 2015.
An educated workforce is an important component of growing and attracting both business and talent. Having an attractive state for skilled professionals leads to a talented local workforce which leads to a healthy business climate. Professionals want to live in thriving communities where they too can thrive.
There are many reasons why people are leaving Illinois, among them the nation’s 7th-highest combined state and local tax burden, a poor jobs climate and concerns over crime.
You can’t blame Illinois’ most-educated for choosing to leave.
Appendix
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Loss of 225,000 students since 2010 helps confirm Illinois is losing people
- Big red states gain, big blue states drain when it comes to 2023 population growth – A Wirepoints 50-state survey
- ‘Illinois is growing,’ claims yet another group of political elites. It’s not true.
- It’s not just people. Illinois suffered the nation’s 3rd-worst loss of businesses in 2021.
Illinois education officials continuously claim there’s a teacher shortage across the state. Yet data from the state’s own Illinois Report Card shows that hiring at schools has been booming over the last 25 years, especially when you consider that student enrollment has been shrinking at the same time.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the failures of Mayor Johnson’s first year in office, what Chicago’s future looks like, why so many CPS teachers are chronically absent, the details of Gov. Pritzker’s $827 million giveaway to Rivian, and more.
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 5/12/2024.
Love him or despise him, but when Pres. Trump got his tax reform passed and limited the deduction for State taxes paid – in effect, taxing the rich more, a Democrat priority – he added another reason for high earning highly educated people to leave the state.
What is not to like about Illinois and Sheeetcago?!!
A population which is uneducated, illiterate, and invested in their home countries over the United States will be easier to manipulate with propaganda. This is the environment they came from so this is an easy sell. Very few entrepreneurs are crossing the border. I do have hope that not all are inked up MS 13 but there are a fair amount as the easiest way a dictator can remove its own criminals and dump them somewhere else which becomes their problem. The educated in their countries of origin attend the finest schools across the globe. Many under aliases and false… Read more »
Also I’ve mentioned this before is why do we not see any people 40 and over coming over the border? If it is as bad as they say how are all the elderly in those countries surviving? I have not heard about mass starvation or bodies of the elderly lining the streets in Venezuela. Is the media covering what’s going on there? There must be some data on incarcerations there or have they truly emptied their prisons and mental health facilities? In other countries who have migration issues you always see people 60 or older making the trek from wherever… Read more »
Several of these comments indicate that people have many reasons for leaving Illinois. Of course that is true. Only the laws of physics apply universally. But to suggest that we can only learn by determining individual motivations is akin to saying that we can only study the world through a microscope. The detail is great, but you won’t get very far in learning about the whole world. Others say that nothing can be inferred from the number leaving Illinois, it’s possible that they don’t want to subsidize all the conservatives downstate. The numbers and charts don’t only show the states… Read more »
As someone who put themselves through college by saving and working hard, I reject the author’s premise that “some college” or an associate’s degree are anything close to highly educated. I thought butchering words’ meanings was the province of the left.
The word highly clearly is a comparative term rather than precise. Two people can see the same set of data and not agree on what it means in that respect. If fewer than 50% of adults have truly any level of college education, then those who do might seem highly educated to the less educated, I’d suppose. It’s like a lot of other things in life such as a person’s net worth and depends upon one’s point of view.
Does the term “highly” educated include trades people? Without trades people what would our surroundings look like? Roofers-plumbers-carpenters-masons-electricians-home builders/etc keep us in a very good quality of life all things considered. Most may not have a college degree but graduated from trade schools with little or no debt. They make a good living doing work that many of us rely on. Most had great training and real life job skills. Look at the ComEd workers after a severe storm or tornado. They are out in inclement weather repairing the downed lines so we can watch the Taylor Swift/Kelce Bowl (just… Read more »
“Highly educated” certainly can include the kinds of highly trained and highly experienced people you mentioned to me at least but not necessarily so. My criteria for using that term would have to include the depth and width of their educational and work experience that separates the deep thinkers vs. the superficial immediate problem-only fixers.
Our language was, is, and will continue to be abused.
Precise language is a lost art.
Rarely an article crosses my path that I don’t find editorialized, exaggerated, miss leading or simply wrong. My biggest disappointment lately has been frequent misstatements and grammatical errors in the Journal.
One of my pet peeves is miss use of the word “hero.”
Off my soapbox!
Well speaking of butchering words’ meanings…the word you were looking for is providence, not province.
Here is why I left Illinois over 20 years ago.
Consider da Dems pols in Illinois and Sheeetcago and their masters da public sector unions like a Black Hole.
How do you stop da Black Hole from sucking in more and more of your wealth via higher and higher taxes.
Get as far away as you can from it.
Illinoisans, vote with your feet and flee da Illinois Black Hole!!
Same here. Emphasis on the word “black.” I don’t need ghetto gunfire drama in my city or my life.
Well-educated person here (BS, MA, MBA): none of us are leaving because of what you’ve speculated in this post. We are leaving because we are tired. Tired of subsidizing downstate conservatives; tired of hearing from the red parts of the state how we, the educated, are part of some grand conspiracy against America; tired of hearing from our Republican-voting neighbors in the suburbs how the mere act of not holding a racist worldview is some symptom of mental disease; tired of obvious Astroturf websites such as this one holding our place of birth against us.
You don’t speak for all the well educated individuals that are leaving Illinois. I wish you good luck in your new home, wherever that may be. Drive your little electric car around and change the world! You can do it!
So, JLB, the educated are fleeing because of conservatives in Illinois. Got it.
Mark, I find it interesting that no one has refuted JLB’s comment that this site is “astroturfed” or of
some other dubious origin/funding/motive.
Astroturfed, carnival barkers and right wing extremists are a few of the calling cards from the radicalized left wing. Perhaps that’s JB himself posting because the
writing m.o. fits
@Tracy, this is a pretty niche website that really only caters to a policy-minded audience, and even then its narrow focus on Illinois limits any reach even further. If some Dan Proft type is propping it up, that’s got to be the worst return on investment ever.
A basic search shows the organization taking in $700k last year from a donor base of less than five individuals so…I mean, I love this site and its work but let’s just be thankful the good guys are on our side.
Not true. You are welcome to discuss how we are financed here, but don’t make stuff up.
Hey I gave something a couple of times and are by far far far away from anywhere near a 100,000K mark but it is nice to know I am traveling in those circles…
Yep Tracy, this is clearly a site of dubious origin. It doesn’t agree with your point of view, so it must be! All points of view are welcome here. Feel free to champion JB all you want. The billionaire trust fund baby who keeps those billions offshore to avoid taxation (you can’t refute that). The man who doubled the gasoline tax and indexed it to Biden’s record breaking inflation (you can’t refute that). The man who expanded gambling and legalized weed, which negatively impacts marginalized communities to a greater extent (you can’t refute that). The man who is passionately committed… Read more »
Tracy, that’s because the allegation if unfounded and stupid.
@Mark Glennon hold on – you guys took in $700,000 in donations from four donors? As my grandfather used to say, “that ain’t something that don’t need explainin’!”
best I can tell, they’re paying mark a cool $100,000 a year just to troll his own readers. wtf. you guys hiring?
It’s doesn’t need explaining. It’s awesome there are rich conservative donors out there willing to fund conservative influence without a quick and measurable return on investment. Democrats have been doing this for years. Conservatives have always been reticent to fund hard to measure nebulous ideas like this.
So I’m pleased to hear this is the case. It’s about time our rich are stepping up to the plate and doing, quite frankly, their civic duty to combat the IL Democrat machine with influential articles and opinion pieces. I love it, this is awesome.
Good point Debtsor. Follow-up question: how would you describe the way rich people’s boots taste?
$100,000 a year to be a blogger. Yeah. Some real “man of the people” stuff there. Stepping up to the plate. Meanwhile the best he and his ilk have ever delivered us was Rauner. Come the eff on.
This is a stupid comment and shows your ignorance. Do you feel stupid when you look at yourself in the mirror? I’m serious, do you? becuse you have no idea what you are talking about. The left and Democrat have a vast ecosphere of left-wing websites, think tanks, publications and advocacy groups, all of which are heavily reliant on the billionaire class to raise money. These donations are celebrated. For example, Media Matters was opened with a $1,000,000 donation from Soros’s Open Society foundation. The Southern Poverty Law Center is another left wing hack group also 100% reliant on billionaire… Read more »
It will sound strange, but that’s exactly why I left after getting my MBA (Iowa ‘96, go Hawkeyes!). Small town Illinois in the 90s was no place for a gay man (such as myself), or at least not one who (also like myself) had no intention of pretending to be someone he was not, even if I had the same problems with Democrats any decent person does. I vote Republican because I believe in individual liberty, but given a choice between a) having neighbors who vote like me but would rather I cease to exist and b) having neighbors with… Read more »
We are who we are – “God don’t make no junk.”
Small minded people are a fact of life – hope you land somewhere welcoming.
Thank you for putting that more eloquently than I’ve ever been able, Steve. Sounds like our stories are pretty similar, although in my case it was the late 80s and the move was just up I-57 to Chicago – not that there aren’t plenty back home who to this day still insist on telling me “Chicago ain’t Illinois.”
That has to be the most off-base comment I have ever read.
Conservatives driving out population? What is JLB smoking? Some legal Pritzker pot?
What conservatives are pushing a racist worldview? The ruling class, aka liberals, are constantly pushing racist policies – separate accommodations by race, separate safe spaces, dumbing down education, depriving POC children of decent education, bypassing citizens in favor of the invading hordes.
Hope life works out well for JLB. Perhaps in California or Washington?
Mark, as has been discussed elsewhere in this post’s comments, people leave a place for lots of reasons. Us making blanket assumptions about what people need and value makes us no better than the socialists we mock and despise.
Cheers,
Kyle
Respectfully, Mr. Glennon, your statement is a slap in the face to the educated conservatives who left Illinois. As though a person could finish college or recognize the dangers of government overreach, but not both. As though the only conservatives to come out of Illinois were either out of touch, ivy-league, North Shore WASP types or else uneducated rubes out in the sticks.
We conservatives are used to this kind of stereotyping from the left. Yet it somehow stings more to see that our state’s thought leaders such as yourself look down on so many of our brethren.
Huh? I said no such thing. I mocked the notion that prevalence of conservatives is driving people out of Illinois. Illinois is a moderate state, as I documented earlier, but its government imposes policies that are overwhelmingly radical left. That’s the problem. I happen to be in coastal So. Carolina, among the big destination states, this weekend. Yankees everywhere, particularly Illinoisans. I would be surprised there’s even one from Illinois here because they fled from conservatives.
Mark is an idiot CCC. Don’t expect much insight from this moron.
Da Judge imposter, get a life you simpleton!!
If you find Illinois too conservative for your taste, your relocation options within the U.S. are pretty limited. Probably Cal or NY would be more suitable, you wouldn’t have to subsidize conservatives at all. Plenty of drug addicts and criminals to subsidize instead.
I was a sophisticated and distinguished individual, with a high net worth, before I was attacked by some MAGA hat wearing racist homophobes in Chicago late one January night. The Chicago media demonized my attack and the obviously corrupt Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx charged ME with faking the attack to appease her MAGA base. Move out before it’s too late!
Chicago resident and proud Republican here. I haven’t left Illinois (yet) but like JLB up there I too wouldn’t mind our rural and downstate brethren taking less of our taxes. Thanks for voting R, but y’all gotta start paying full freight.
Turn your college degrees back in for a refund – you sound like a typical Leftist crackpot.
Are you by chance Jack Bolly as in my old Charlotte teammate Jack Bolly circa ‘89-90? Small world – and can you still hoop?
Yes. You really put the B in BJ after every practice.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing screams “astroturf” more than you logging in under different IDs and having your pathetic ilk log in just to down vote comments that you disagree with and self promote your own inane comments. And yes, us well educated here (Wife and I both have BS and MBA degrees) are leaving because of the crime, politics and taxes. We are not the only ones. You are mistaken, again, that conservatives are railing against the educated, they are against mental disordered liberals who suffer from the delusion that you pick up a turd from the clean end. Racist? Typical response… Read more »
Tommy Paine I am curious what made you decide the OP is white.
The liberal part is obvious, obviously.
Simple, he/she/it clearly stated that “how the mere act of not holding a racist worldview is some symptom of mental disease”. Do you really believe that anyone but a white person suffering from white guilt would have said that?
Did you happen to notice how he/she/it used their muptiple login IDs and those of their ilk to down vote my comment and others? They are clown show astroturfers. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good point – I guess the left has its own tells where language is concerned.
How do we get a login? Would be nice to be able to be the only person posting as Marty.
If it’s true that four donors gave $700k to WP, that’s freaking awesome, and it’s ABOUT TIME rich conservative donors step up to the plate and fund the conservative movement. We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. The Democrats have been doing this for years. For example, the leftist progressive Media Matters website receives millions from donors including the Ford Foundation, George Soros and Arabella. Media Matters is considered the Democrat Party a fundamental and critical part of of their progressive infrastructure to fight conservative influence. It’s good that trolls like JLB are finding WP. That means its… Read more »
lol
The libs have their share of glamour donors but we’ve got Koch, Mellon, Bradley, Mercer, Uihlein, Griffith to name just a few literal MULTIBILLIONAIRES on our side. Money is definitely not our movement’s problem.
Democrats way out raise Republicans in so-called Dark Money, which is how this site is apparently funded. They have a much, much larger ecosphere. that’s
The well educated are not leaving Illinois “too”. They are smart enough to lead the great exodus. The rest of us follow. Where the well educated and job creators go we go, too. These skilled professionals are fed up with dumping all of their earnings into the corrupt economy of Illinois and getting back nothing except higher taxes.
Amen. Not to mention funding the baby-killing “hospitals”, the BLM/Antifa terrorists in our streets, the scamdemic that killed small business here forever – Illinois is dead, people.
You forgot the corrupt Illinois Dems and their masters da public sector unions leading this Big Blue state into the sheeet hole!!
Signs of decay abound in IL. Kinda reminds me of Youngstown in a lot of respects. Many of those who stay are on taxpayer support of some kind. A Democrat utopia of self-inflicted pain.
I remember Youngstown Sheet and tube,
Employed a lot of people as did USS in Gary. The disaster of communistic democrats in Illinois has allowed for the cancer to spread here.
“The usual gang of idiots “ continues to
Spread the cancer of city and state decay
Nothing will stop until it kills the host,
Unless the cancer is cut out and removed
Vote them out
But Youngstown — assuming YS&T was located there — is one of the cheapest places to live in the US. Not so much Chicago.
One thing that Youngstown did NOT have that IL has are public educators working to dumb down the kids and take advantage of them for their own gain. Kids in Youngstown where encouraged to better themselves and get the hell out. Most did.
Hmm, a new state is on tap. From Land of Lincoln to the Mississippi of the North!
Every time there is a list published with a different negative attribute, the same three states are always in the top 3 spots. What is it about California, New York and Chicago? There must be a common link causes these problems to arise. What could it be? One thing for certain, we don’t need a task force to determine the root cause.
THE IDIOTS THAT RUN THOSE CITIES
Also in Illinois educational news tonight the Pritzker Military Museum announced it will be closing its Chicago office and moving to Wisconsin…seems like even the Pritzker’s know their brother’s leadership is dysfunctional and to be avoided…………………………………. that is all
Perhaps next to the horse farm and gun range that they own and operate in WI, and the very same places they sought refuge from his draconian, drawn out covid lockdowns while you were told to shelter in place, skip Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. Can’t believe this bozo actually was re- elected. Amazing.
NOW ..LET’S GET HIM OUT