By: Mark Glennon*
If you think Illinois’ problems only amount to Illinois voters getting what they deserve, you are mistaken. A new report says Illinois, with the fifth largest state economy in the nation, is helping pull the country down.
It should come as no surprise, therefore, that other new reports continue to show that Illinois is a “net taker” in terms of its balance of payments with the federal government. Five years ago, Illinois gave up its long-held claim that it sends the federal government more than it gets in return, and that “net taker” status continues today.
Succinct evidence of Illinois’ underperformance is in the June report by COGFA, Illinois’ bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. In that report, COGFA set out to compare Illinois’ economic performance to the rest of the nation since the start of the COVID pandemic. They chose four metrics to do so: 1) Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 2) Total Nonfarm Payroll Employment, 3) Unemployment Rate, and 4) Total Personal Income.
The results are damning for Illinois by all four measures, with the state ranking from 45th to 47th on each among the states:
- Real GDP: Since the fourth quarter of 2019, the United States has grown 8.6% post-COVID-19, but Illinois’ economy has grown only 2.8%, ranking 46th among the states.
- Total nonfarm payroll: The U.S. and Illinois both lost jobs during the first two months of the pandemic. But since then, U.S. payrolls grew by 4.1%. Illinois, however, has barely surpassed its pre-COVID-19 level, with only 0.2% growth. That ranks Illinois 45th in the nation.
- Unemployment rate: From March 2020 through May 2024, the U.S average unemployment rate was 5.1% but Illinois was 6.0%, ranking Illinois 45th in the nation. Illinois has consistently been about 0.8% to 0.9% above the U.S. average for the last decade. Currently, Illinois’ unemployment rate was 4.9% in May, which is 0.9% higher than the U.S. average of 4.0
- Personal Income: Illinois was one of the slowest-growing states regarding total income growth since the outbreak of COVID-19. Since the fourth quarter of 2019, Illinois’ total income grew by 22.0%, significantly below the U.S. increase of 27.2%, ranking 46th over this period.
Notably, Illinois did much worse than all of its neighboring states by each of those measures for those periods. The only exception is that Wisconsin was 47th worst on GDP growth while Illinois was 46th. Full state-by-state comparisons are in the charts in the COGFA report.
The conclusion is clear: Illinois is underperforming and is pulling down national averages about economic health.
Two other recently released, national reports show Illinois as a drag on the nation down from a different angle.
Each year, the balance of payments between the federal government and each state is calculated in separate studies by the Rockefeller Institute and the New York Comptroller. They tally up all taxes and other payments made by residents of each state and compare that to the total that comes back to the state through grants, contract payments, military spending, social programs and everything else.
Once again, both studies show Illinois with a positive balance of payments, meaning the federal government sends more to Illinois than Illinois sends in.
Historically, Illinois complained routinely that they sent Washington more than they got in return. Some Illinois politicians continue to make that claim. It hasn’t been true, however, since before 2019 to 2020.
Schadenfreude feels nice when you think about Illinois voters who elected the people responsible for this, but know that Illinois’ problems are also America’s problems.
*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.
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.
Wow! Nothing that this Democratic state does is good enough for y’all trickle down economic leaning Republicans?!! Illinois is NOT the only state struggling with the post-Covid reality. As I’ve stated before, what would y’all do differently? Oh, I know, give companies a big tax break and hope that the Shareholders pass that influx of money to the workers…..NOT! Oh, I know y’all roll back EPA restrictions so that the polluting of the airc and water can continue…..🤔 Until your playbook changes, keep your not helping nonsense to yourself. I only subscribed to this unhinged, backward thinking newsletter for information… Read more »
Do you think using “y’all” 3 times is clever? Were you worried your contempt wouldn’t come through clearly enough?
Y’all are just so smart it hurts our little ole brains just to be exposed to your brilliance.
Well why don’t you enlighten us with your great wisdom? Illinois is a bottom dweller in just about every economic indicator, and the population trend isn’t your friend either. High taxes, dismal educational performance, massive unfunded liabilities, high unemployment, a violence issue in the State’s largest city. There’s more, but a genius like yourself already knows everything. What’s the solution? Another task force? We all await your insight!
This state has gone down the tubes for years 25% of every dollar goes to pensions, teachers want big raises, but fail to teach, $550.000,000 every year is the cost of this criminal state due to corruption..prikster made this a sanctuary state costing taxpayers millions and an increase in crime Illinois is near 200 billion deep in pension debt. property taxes are breaking homeowners back. Y’all need to change y’alls need to change your playbook
Of course its a sucking drain on society, especially the black community, and yes i’m black, would be great to see some accountability amongst the black community but that will never happen in our lifetimes. Just look at the moron blacks that have run Chicago into the ground, why are you white people so stupid to vote these morons in, you do realize they are more racist against you, yes blacks are racist. Get a clue, and yes i’m black and I avoid my community as much as possible, its a lost cause.
Also, when you make it “racist” to criticize a group of people for their actions it just makes that group of people even worse. Just look at the crime the black community has created and destruction of society. Lets see this country has spent trillions of dollars on the black community and what do you get, zero. Just a bunch of vultures. And yes i’m black. I’m sure the libtards will be freaking out that a black man is telling the 100% absolute truth.
It’s tough, there’s a lot of social pressure in black communities to vote democrat. virtually everyone in your community does. At social functions, at church, at the community center, at your job. That’s why Joe Biden can say “you ain’t black” if they voted for Donald Trump. He later apologized but that’s the truth. It’s not like this in white households, it’s the opposite, there’s no social pressure to vote one way at the other, just the tendency to scream at each functions over differing political views.
I would say its more simple than that, the community votes for whoever will give them free stuff, it really comes down to this
You’re thisclose to it.
They don’t vote for ‘whovever gives them free stuff’. They vote for the one who promises the most free stuff. The ‘stuff’ promised never arrives, except into the politicians’ pockets.
Illinois is in the economic death spiral of communities hanging on by a thread. New residential development creates necessity of subsidization by existing homeowners. Simple math: In Woodstock, the property tax bill per pupil per year is $10,000 (rising with inflation), plus the ongoing/forward-going significant hidden cost burden of OPEBs for public employees (early retirement benefits vest after 10 years). (School district Tax levy ~$60 million divided by enrollment ~6000=$10,000). There is almost no non-residential taxpaying property in Woodstock due to its TIF and due to its 3% property tax rate (inching down slowly from near 4%). For comparison purposes,… Read more »
Well stated, Susan. Thank you.
And, yes, an economic death spiral – with Chicago leading the swirl.
And with an ever increasing hispanic/low income population in woodstock that is years behind the rest of the students, the schools will keep asking for more money to provide more government services for kids who can barely read english or spanish.
On the other hand Illinois provides a human dumping ground for other states. Consider for example when Governor Abbot had some immigrants to displace from his State he shipped them to Illinois. Similarly, I was recently approached by someone from another State that stated to me that her home State would not cover some medical procedures she wanted but Illinois Medicaid would so she was moving here. To top it all off we mustn’t forget, as pointed out by a recent Chicago Tribune article, “The post-Roe migration of abortion providers to Illinois follows a national pattern of clinics and medical… Read more »
“Illinois’ problems are also America’s problems.”
Actually, not so much. The states are competitors. Illinois problems drive jobs and wealth to other parts of the country. A strong argument could be made that Illinois failings are positive for residents of other states.
Blue Blows, hopefully someday people will wake up.
Can’t wait to hear from the “ red states get welfare money from the blue states “ crowd, a fallacy if I ever heard one.
Normally a dismal report on a states economy would be a ‘call to arms’ for everyone to roll up their sleeves and get to work, with the Gov. leading. Not in IL. Rather facts and data are ignored, and those who point to the facts and data are ridiculed. It’s all about pretending in IL. The focus of elected leaders seems to be to double-down on failure. One can only conclude they do not care.
Carnival barker.
It is hard to argue that Illinois is doing well with clear facts showing the complete opposite. That’s why Pritzker will just ignore the facts. I don’t know what today’s grandiose claim about Illinois will be, but rest assured they’ll be one. And it will be meaningless and unsubstantiated. It’s the Pritzker way.
Ill is just funnin’ for JP cause he had nothing else going on…….doesn’t matter to him with his billions……he’ll NEVER want for a roof or a MEAL!!