By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Fresh data from the U.S. Census continues to point to the loss of Illinoisans to domestic outmigration: Illinois netted a loss of 116,000 residents to other states in 2022. Those losses are on top of the 141,000 Illinoisans that fled in 2021.
The new losses compound the problem of the last decade, from 2010 to 2020, when Illinois was one of just three states in the entire country to shrink in the Census’ population count. Mississippi and West Virginia were the other two states to shrink.
The latest data shows Illinois was a net loser of residents to 36 different states in 2022, resulting in a net out-migration of 126,000 residents to those 36 states. On the flip side, Illinois was a net winner of residents from just 13 states. The net in-migration from those 13 states totaled just 12,000 residents.
In all, Illinois netted a loss of nearly 116,000 residents to other states in 2022 (includes 1,500 in losses to DC as well).
The Census data continues to show the favorite destination for Illinoisans wanting a new home is Florida. The Sunshine State gained a net 21,184 residents from Illinois.
But destinations number 2, 3 and 4 aren’t booming southern states or retiree-friendly havens like Arizona or the Carolinas.
Instead, Illinoisans are simply moving just over the border. Illinoisans’ number two destination in 2022 was Indiana, which gained a net 17,223 Illinoisans, followed by Wisconsin, a net 14,605 Illinoisans gained, and Iowa, a net 7,972 Illinoisans gained.
Those outmigration losses to our neighbors helps debunk the tired, oft-used excuse of cold weather as the reason Illinois consistently loses people. And for the record, all of Illinois’ neighboring states grew in population from 2010 to 2020. Population changes are about more than just the cold.
As we’ve written often, this data shows, for yet another year, Illinoisans chose better managed, less expensive areas over larger, government-centric, high-cost cities and states. And it provides a glimpse of a demographic future in which states that prioritize an affordable, less intrusive government will dominate those that over-tax and over-regulate the lives and businesses of their residents.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- ‘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.
- No, it’s not just retirees leaving Illinois. Residents in every age and income group are fleeing.
- State of denial: Gov. Pritzker says IRS migration data isn’t ‘migration data’
- New IRS migration data: New York, California, Illinois are the nation’s big losers of people and their wealth, Florida, Texas the big winners
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.
Mark-Here is some info from Forbes. One guess which state is #`1 for out migration?
https://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-u-s-states-people-are-fleeing-and-the-ones-they-are-moving-to-version-5-ifs-vue-mn-wnb/
Can’t possibly be true if JB, Martire and Economic Policy Inst. say otherwise.
I moved to Indiana (northern indianapolis suburbs) in 2022 and have not regretted one day since. While in Chicago the last couple of years, I was constantly worried about crime downtown and the constant stress of that wears on you more than you realize. I no longer worry about it and COL and taxes are so much lower.
To paraphrase JB Pritzker: “Move along. Nothing to see here. Carnival barkers.”
A Brit named Parkinson is credited with Parkinson’s Law – he observed as the British Empire was in decline and shrinking the British Colonial Office still required the same number of bureacrauts. Sound familiar?
Your apparent take on it when considered in the opposite way essentially represents another law at play, too—economy of scale. The larger the number of output units, it’s the usual expectation that the cost to produce each one can be progressively decreased. That’s a well-known positive way to present the reverse of what you are stating when the unit outputs are inefficiently small in number.
I don’t know about the out-migration since the 2020 census, but the 2020 census showed that the loss from Illinois were conservatives moving out of the downstate area. The Chicagoland area is actually gaining residents, which means the liberals are moving around within the Chicagoland area. The result is that Illinois will continue to be deep blue and circle the drain until it finally destroys itself.
Chicagoland’s newest residents are selling choc-o-lat on Madison St. downtown and roses at busy intersections in Mt. Prospect. The entire state hemorrhaging natives is the real story, and conclaves of unassimilated, low performing immigrants are replacing them. Just look the elementary school enrollment statistics with many elementary schools being overwhelmed with ESL students. Many suburbs are unrecognizable from 20 year ago. The upper middle class fancy areas are largely unaffected, other than declining elementary school enrollment, but the working class areas are getting slammed. For example, AURORA EAST USD 131 is 87% hispanic and 50% ESL. 50% of the kids… Read more »
Absolutely on point. These people are not taxpayers and the massive burden to pay for all this will be grifted off of everyone who has made the decision to stay. Illegals benefit from the sanctuary status and are receiving NGO and government benefits, it really looks like a voter replacement program to me. Naturally they will be completely loyal to the state and do whatever they need to do in order to stay. Mayorkas should be hung.
It is a voter replacement program for sure. The democrat ‘votes’ exist in urban areas regardless of who the voter is. And it seems like they’re trying to intentionally push blacks to the suburbs. The newest residents will be poor but their murder and violence rate will be less than 1/5th of the AA’s who live there now. I still think of the black residents of south shore complaining that the migrants would change the neighborhood. But tiny South Shore – located near the lake, with highway access, a massive park and public beach, and old world craftsmanship stock housing,… Read more »
South Shore is where my grandparents on my Mom’s side grew up. One went to Hirsch and the other Tilden. They met each other in the neighborhood around the time of Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt noted enforcer for Capone and Nitti. The bungalows are first rate as is the small enclave inside South Shore, The Jackson Park Highlands. Magnificent houses, simply stunning. The area also had a massive amount of Section 8 and the amount of larger parcels were owned and are still owned by Jewish families who I knew when I lived in Northbrook. These families used to live… Read more »
Most of the escapees to WI and IN still have Chicago area based jobs is my guess.
Probably correct, which means they may have to move again after retirement if they want a warmer climate.
This is very true.
If/when you decide to join the other Illinois refugees, choose your new state wisely. Look at state income tax, real estate tax, sales tax, and debt. Look at weather, the historical voting record, and the overall cost of living. It’s not that hard. All the information is easily found online. If you do all that, you just might end up as my neighbor in Tennessee. Do what I did. Make yourself a list of pros and cons about each state. It’s easy to quickly rule out about 90% of the states. Tennessee may not be right for you, but it… Read more »
When you are picking a state, first view its tax structure at tax foundation.org. Once you have picked a state whose taxation is acceptable, then search for a desirable county, as it’s key to see what the county taxation is. Stay away from counties that have cities that are too big, as these cities will have urban crime and homeless problems, and your county taxes will end up funding this in part. There are cities with only 50,000 people or less that have huge problems. Stay away from these cities. When you search for a house online at realtor.com or… Read more »
FYI, the school rankings are nearly useless now unless. They believe that school rankings are racist. The rankings now incorporate ‘equity’ into everything subcategory, so a diverse school with low test but improving scores similarly to a consistently high performing school but with little diversity. My local elementary school is only 6 out of 10 because it’s not diverse and scores are already in the 90th percentile so there’s not much to improve, but the school in the next town over is a 5/10 even though it’s 30% ESL and looks like the united nations, and the kids can’t barely… Read more »
That may be, but the ratings that realtor.com uses in the counties in NC where I’m at seem to be accurate and are not making adjustments for diversity. It’s very easy to discern down here.
If you want a wealth of local data, go to city-data.com, click on a map, and on the drop down there are an amazing number of parameters available as map overlays, including crime.
Another good resource is datausa.io that has many map parameters you can use to research an area to figure things out.
I will check out realtor dot com vs. using redfin which uses Great Schools, which is awful.
Realtor.com uses Great Schools, but they seem to be correct in my neck of the woods. But I view everything online as suspect, as I’m sure you do, too.
Well it looks like there’s a few Young Joe’s still moving here. Too bad they didn’t see Chicago in its heyday. Da Bears, Michael Jordan, and the Bijou Theatre!
It is the old landlord principal “Raise rents till you have some vacancies”.
The public sector unions have destroyed the quality of life in Illinois. Many of the people that are fleeing are the high-income earners and job creators. Most everyone that leaves reports back that “it was the best decision they ever made”.
Note this; the government employees are not moving out, or being laid off in proportion.
Their smugness is nearly insufferable. My local municipal fire dept seems to get a new chief every 18 months – it’s all just a game for them to work the pension system. 401(k)’s, IRA’s, taxes, the economy, budget deficits – Pfft, who cares about all that. Just give us more for doing the same or less.
Things are WAY out of balance in IL.
This is a number you won’t hear JB talk about. It’s just too damn inconvenient. Illinois is dying, and everyone knows it, but we’re all supposed to ignore it or be labeled carnival barkers, racists or xenophobic. JB will tout some other number, a metric that no one ever heard of made up by his own team, that contradicts the census data. And the media will pretend all is wonderful.