By: Ted Dabrowski
The latest state-to-state migration numbers from the Internal Revenue Service confirm what Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker consistently denies: Illinois is bleeding people.
IRS data for the 2022 tax filing year released last week shows Illinois once again lost out in the battle for Americans as they migrate between states each year. In all, Illinois netted a loss of 87,000 residents, with 175,000 moving into Illinois from other states and 262,000 moving out. That loss was the third-largest in the country, with only California and New York netting bigger losses of residents. Wirepoints documented in detail last week who were the nation’s biggest winners and losers overall.
Not only did Illinois lose a net 87,000 residents, but the state also lost the incomes those residents took with them. Illinois gave up a net $9.8 billion in Adjusted Gross Incomes (AGI), with outgoing residents taking with them more than $19.3 billion in AGI, while those moving in only brought in $9.5 billion. The net loss of AGI was also the nation’s third largest.
In all, Illinois lost residents, on net, to 40 states, giving up a total 87,877 residents, while it netted a tiny gain of 632 residents from 7 states. Illinois broke even with Hawaii and Nebraska. The full detail of Illinois vs. each state in the country is provided in the appendix below.
The IRS report of more Illinois resident losses piles on top of those already reported by the U.S. Census and a host of moving companies like United Van Lines. Illinois was one of only three states in the country to shrink during the last Census decennial count (2010-2020), while the last three years of Census estimates show another 240,000 in fresh population losses. The moving companies, meanwhile, have consistently reported in recent years Illinois as having the first or second most net outbound traffic in the country.
Illinois’ loss of population relative to the rest of the country has resulted in a major drop in Illinois representation in Congress. Whereas the state had 24 U.S. House Representatives after the 1970 Census, today the state has just 17. Illinois most recently dropped from 18 as a result of the 2020 decennial count.
The IRS data is particularly important because it is not based on surveys or statistical analysis. Instead, it is hard data based on actual tax returns. The IRS knows where each tax filer lives and if and when they move. It also knows each tax filer’s income and the number of dependents in each family. That makes it easy to calculate which states are attracting the most people and how incomes are shifting between the states. It also allows trends to be tracked.
A look at IRS data since 2010 shows Illinois has accumulated a net loss of more than 1 million people due to domestic outmigration to other states, only partially made up by births and international immigration. Those out-migration losses are among the worst in the country.
It’s important to note that the IRS data does not track the movement of people who do not file tax returns. That will become increasingly important as the record number of illegal immigrants flowing into the U.S. are eventually counted. Illinois’ population numbers in the 2030 decennial count could be significantly impacted by illegal immigration.
The big winners vs. Illinois
Unsurprisingly, Florida was the biggest net taker of Illinoisans and their wealth in 2022.
As the IRS reported, 12, 521 Floridians moved to Illinois, but 31,620 Illinoisans moved to Florida. The net gain for Florida was 19,099 new residents from Illinois alone. That gain also came with a net of nearly $3.3 billion in new AGI for Florida. In all, a massive gain for Florida and a massive loss for Illinois.
That same dismal story for Illinois can be repeated several times over vis-à-vis Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Wisconsin and more. The full data on people and income movement between Illinois and the nation’s other 49 states can be found in the appendix.
A particularly troubling fact is that every one of Illinois’ neighbors took people from the Prairie State. Indiana netted a gain of 9,196 residents vs. Illinois. Wisconsin picked up 6,323. Kentucky, 1,113.
In all, Illinois lost a net 21,050 residents to its six neighboring states.
Acknowledging a problem
Gov. Pritzker has repeatedly refused to acknowledge Illinois’ population and outmigration woes despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He’s even said that the IRS migration data “is not migration data.” The collapse in congressional representation alone should be a wake up call that Illinois is consistently losing the nationwide competition for people, their talents and their incomes.
That lack of acknowledgment means the governor and the state’s General Assembly continue to ignore the major woes facing Illinoisans. The nation’s highest property taxes. The country’s second-highest gas taxes. A six-year high in violent crimes in Chicago. Twelve years in a row in which Chicago has led the nation in total homicides. A massive prioritization of illegal immigrants over the state’s own residents. An educational system which many parents, in Chicago in particular, continue to flee. A lack of school choice because lawmakers last year killed off the state’s only small, tax-credit scholarship. The list could go on and on.
Increasingly, Illinoisans can’t see their future here. Until things change – and it starts with an acknowledgement of the problems – they’ll continue to flee.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- IRS migration data: Big blue states biggest losers of people, wealth. Big red states biggest winners. – A Wirepoints 50-state survey
- When it comes to population growth, there is no greater contrast than Illinois and Florida
- New Census data: 75% of Illinois cities shrank last year, Chicago population drop nation’s 3rd-worst
- The well-educated are fleeing Illinois, too
Appendix
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
It would be interesting to know what % of State pensions are spent out of State. What % of Cook County or City of Chicago or Metropolitan Water Reclamation pensions are spent out of the County? I’d say mailed out but a P.O. Box, direct deposit and a debit card can transfer money anywhere and avoid further state income tax.
What good would knowing that percentage accomplish? IL can’t charge an IL income tax or some pension fee by another name where it applies only for any person living elsewhere. Ultimately all you are going to do is elevate your own anger and blood pressure. So, it might be better not to pursue that thought, perhaps.
Illinois State Logo Circa 2024
Now that I have got your attention. This article provided the facts and denying only makes things worse.I don’t like it either, I love the state but stay on the current path this this becomes the grim reality.
JP just doesn’t want to admit he has ruined Il and can’t do anything right! Hopefully they won’t install him as pres ………..then the whole country will be doomed!!
Is one give up and move out story a day the goal? Organizing and winning back seats is a better option. Half the country is not lost. This is a ridiculous assessment that only benefits opposition.
It’s called strategic retreat to fortify purple and red states. Nothing wrong with a strategic retreat.
It won’t be long before you add my household to the out-migration to Wisconsin list. Wisconsin only needs 50,000 new conservative residents to turn the state red forever. Interestingly enough, you can see the Big 10 to Chicago pipeline drying up right before our very eyes. It won’t be long before the Big 10 bars in Chicago dry up, if they’re not already gone; they may already be gone, I haven’t been to Lincoln Park in ages. I do know that O’Donovans in North Center, a former fun place I hung out at after I graduated college, has two cartoon… Read more »
Does that 3.3 billion include Ken Griffin? He alone could account for that.
Griffin is worth about $37,500,000,000 which is now in Florida. The real reason Pritzker did not do anything to stop him from leaving Illinois is he financed opposition to the governor. Also by Ken leaving that put JB a notch higher on the billionaires list in Illinois.
Too much money is a curse. It doesn’t make anyone happy. Griffin’s divorce was acrimonious, putting it nicely, and he’s got all sorts of family problems. On the flip side, JB Pritzker also has billions, but his father died of suspicious circumstances, a heart attack at an extremely young age, and then his mother shipped him off to boarding school after marrying some other rich man (and divorcing him too), before she killed herself in a drunken rage by jumping out of a tow truck. JB was orphaned at 17 and then spent the next decade in litigation to wrestle… Read more »
Money can’t buy happiness but it can make misery easier to bear.
But money is the source of the misery.
Not if you know how to use it.
2,349 Illinoisans thought they’re property taxes weren’t high enough, so they moved to New Jersey.
Why don’t those who think taxes should be higher just make donations to their city/county/state? They can give themselves a tax increase if that’s what they want.
The Public Sector Unions have sold more out of state real estate than any other group.
Far too expensive and far few services to stay in Illinois.
PPF and the gang are oblivious to the economic pain they are putting on families.
High income earners are fleeing to Texas, Florida and anywhere but Illinois.
Business are fleeing to other states in record numbers.
The quality of living is being harmed greatly by the Unions and only going to get worse.
The only way out is to get out.
Leaving Soon is stating the obvious, 17 Agree, 7 Goons do not. (Yes, the goons keep a close watch).
Until the people of Illinois say enough is enough and confront the true issue’s destroying this lovely state it will continue to suck the life out of it. Bankruptcy may be the only solution.
Got the Goon Squad’s attention.
Yup, did.