For the 10th consecutive year, Illinois lost population. Only West Virginia was worse.
Illinois Population Drops 10 Consecutive Years
The Illinois Policy Institute reports 10th Consecutive Year of Population Decline.
Surveys of those who have left the state – where taxes are not a response option – showed the major reasons Illinoisans have chosen to leave the state have been for better housing and employment opportunities, both of which have been made worse by poor public policy in Illinois.
High taxes were the No. 1 reason why Illinoisans considered leaving the state. Polling from NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois found 61% of Illinoisans thought about moving out of state in 2019, and the No. 1 reason was taxes. The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found 47% of Illinoisans wanted to leave the state, and “taxes are the single biggest reason people want to leave” with 27% of respondents citing taxes as the motive for departing in 2016. More recent polling conducted by Echelon Insights in 2023 substantiated those sentiments.
A 10th year of residents leaving Illinois should be a wake-up call to the state’s leaders, who refuse to adopt policies that would make it easier for residents to stay in Illinois. Reforms that would ease Illinoisans’ tax burden or reduce arduous business regulations are needed to make the state more affordable and stop the departures.
Expecting Change is Madness
Anyone who thinks Illinois will change is delusional.
The only escape from Illinois madness is by leaving Illinois. Just don’t go to states equally bad if not worse, especially California, but also New York and New Jersey.
Flashback 2019: Escape Illinois – Get The Hell Out Now, We Are
On October 5, 2019 I wrote Escape Illinois – Get The Hell Out Now, We Are
In July of 2020 we left.
I noted then that It Takes 3 Weeks to Escape Illinois
The reason it took three weeks is that’s how long it took to get a one-way U-Haul.
“Everyone is leaving. No one is coming,” a U-Haul agent told us.
To those who have escaped, congratulations.
Brain dead folks stay in IL, CA, NY and NJ.
In July 2023 I moved from NJ to Sarasota FL.
It is as close to heaven as I have ever lived.
Everything works here and very reasonably-priced.
Oh did I tell you its 73F and blue sky – just lovely.
Phil Murphy ( a former GS VP) and his new NJ is overridden by taxaholics.
Covid was a disaster. Traffic, property taxes, income taxes through the roof.
All the people moving to FL are going to add weight and help it sink underwater that much sooner!
Speaking of Covid, Pritzker looks great when he has a training bra cup size mask over his fat face during his news stunts.
I’m most likely in Illinois to stay, because moving is an incredible burden; there is literally TONNAGE involved. At this point, it’s about 10 tons. I’m also one of those who love Chicago too much to consider leaving – and if I did leave, my most likely destination would be to a state where taxes are even worse: New Jersey.
No reason is pressing on me to move, when I live in a place which competes with Manhattan NYC favorably for diversity and so many activity options, for example just last night I tried (and enjoyed!) food at a Yemeni restaurant, and there are plenty of social clubs to keep me more than busy, etc.
Mish, What is your take on St George?
Love it. So does my wife. She golfs or play bridge 5 times a week. We go hiking on weekends.
There are about 7 national parks within 5.5 hours and several within 3 hours.
Plenty of services including a small regional airport. Las Vegas airport less than 2 hours away.
Great doctors.
Can golf most days of the year, with January the worst month.
Housing is expensive here and a dearth of good restaurants with few open late.
We own our own home outright, so housing not an issue for use.
Summer can be very hot, July through mid-September too hot for me. But within 1.5 hours you can go from 110 degrees to mid-seventies.
All in all, the ideal place for us. I highly recommend St. George for anyone interested in outdoor recreation.
How’s the Surf?
May I suggest a state where the politicians are actively trying to kill you.
The problem is these people move to once great states to live and ruin them. The movers are too ignorant and biased to understand that the new locations they moved to went to great lengths to keep their state from turning into Illinois. When they move, their parasitic politics follow them and infect the other states. I live in Colorado. Now you understand.
I don’t buy that. Is Florida ruined?
People moving to escape taxes, don’t want more of them.
The process takes time. The transplants from blue states started in earnest in the 1970s in Colorado, where I live. You will see the same happen in Florida. The lesson here is a red state must be super diligent for decades.
Back in the 1970s I saw a sign in Colorado that said
“Don’t Californicate Colorado” .
Someone saw it coming. No one stopped it.
Texas doing its part sending illegal alien criminals to Chicago and naturally the White House blames them, not the criminals themselves, when they inevitably commit murder.
Chicago is trying to relocate some of the migrants/illegals to some of the other suburban cities. The cities don’t want them and have already voted to add village ordinances like $1,000.00 extra hotel tax for all stays longer than 30 days, if a bus drops them off in their town the town will fine the bus company $750 for everyone that gets off the bus, impound the bus and charge the driver with some kind of negligence PER PERSON that gets off the bus. There were multiple lawsuits filed in Chicago to stop the migrant shelters in their neighborhood. One was already shut down by Pritzker and another one was scrapped. Gov. Abbott started flying the migrants/illegals to Chicago by private planes. I’m guessing O’Hare will be the permanent winter shelter for these migrants/illegals.
Dorms at Northwestern.
Yes, Mish Congrats, We here in Minnesomalia who are getting tired of all the silly Crap are thinking about pulling up stakes and bugging out too.
I am – next July. And I don’t think that I’ll pass this way again. I suspect that Minneapolis is going to be a bad place to be in the not-too-distant future.
Congrats! I left New York in 1977 when I graduated from college. Other than some visiting family (none remain there currently) I have not been back. The only thing I miss is the food.
I believe this phenomena is called “voting with one’s feet” 🙂
C/S top 20 is x3 times higher than the average price 387.6K sold across
the country. Chicago is c/s best. Prices are rising in Chicago b/c people are moving in.
Population losses : 10.7 + 25.5 + 37.9 …+ 107.8 + 32.8 = 550K out of 14,000K = 4%.
White : 61%. Black :13%. Hispanic : 19%.
Michael, you are a savvy investor. Go all-in on Englewood, Lawndale and Garfield Park real estate.
Oh good grief. Im in Chicago, and you would think that state government meant something around here. But for 90% of the adult population, who cares if the state is broke, Mish? What does state tax money go to: education (people have having fewer kids anyway), human services/disability (I aint — yet), public pensions (Ok, we have alot of $100,000/yr cops, firemen and teachers, but perhaps you’d be surprised to know they pay the same per cop in Phoenix as they do in Chicago — the nuns are all dead, guys — you cant live for free forever), Medicaid, blah blah. My retirement next year will be a 0% state tax rate for retirement income. Yes, Illinois is cold and full of tricky politicians. We also have cops and fire trucks and ambulances and hospitals nearby. You all have one hour drives each way to Wal Mart. 🙂
Nonsense. I live in low tax State and guess what? We have cops and firetrucks and ambulances and hospitals and even Walmart nearby. In fact, we have fully staffed police forces instead of demoralized departments that can’t recruit or retain enough cops and schools where the majority of kids can read at grade level. Keep your ignorant condescension and your rotten political system to yourself.
Low tax means .. low income tax? Low gas tax? Low utility taxes? Low property tax? You point to one tax and say its low, but you are paying the same tax everyone else does by paying a high tax somewhere else. Everyone points to Texas’ zero income tax, but Texas is the third largest property tax in the country. Everyone points to Florida’s zero income tax, but Florida also now has skyrocketing home insurance rates ($6000 per year per house average). You’d have take into account all taxes and mandatory expenses living anywhere.
Wait…I thought that Florida was the roach motel….Everyone checks in but no one checks out…..And the Taliban took over Texas..
Where we’re moving to our taxes on a new construction Single Family home will be the same as we’re paying for a small condo in IL. We” have cops, fire trucks, ambulances and hospitals nearby. A Walmart Super Store will be a 5 minute drive.
Wanna say where this is?
“A Walmart Super Store will be a 5 minute drive”
—
I’m not sure that would be a positive selling point. [lol]
I’ve been in Walmart’s probably 5 times in my life. I never thought the prices were that great and the quality of the products offered was generally poor.
Might want to check Second City Cop blog / comments to see what the current and retired cops are saying.
The president of their union is on the news bellyaching about one thing or another regularly I think I know what theyre blog probably says..
It’s not so many people moving out of West Virginia as people dying. WV is an aging state and has been for years. Many of the young people left long ago, a trend that has been ongoing since the 1950’s.
Governor J.B. Pritzker spends most of his time at the family estates in Florida and Lake Geneva Wisconsin. Nowhere near Chicago during 2020 Summer Of Love.
Lake Geneva? I’ve walked one-half its perimeter (counterclockwise from the namesake town, to Fredonia. I wonder if I walked by his mansion??
What drove people out of West Virginia? I’m guessing job opportunities because taxes and cost of living are a lot lower that on the coasts.
Do you recall the movie Deliverance?
Someone actually did a survey on why people were leaving Illinois and left off taxes as a response option. Who does that???
That’s like doing a presidential approval survey on Joe Biden and leaving out mental capacity as a response option.
Everywhere you look there is a Chicago metro suburb school superintendent retiring at 55 on a meager $300,000 / year + benefits + automatic increases.
If West Virgina had left the Union and concentrated on secret banking for anybody who has money, I wonder if West Virgina would be as rich as Switzerland is now. They both are mountainous with a well-armed population and they both don’t like people telling them what to do.
“If West Virgina had left the Union ….” // Me, fourth generation small farm Texan. Early in my life I recognized that Texas joining the Union was a great mistake. Alas, hindsight is 20/20. 🔦✝️
So you think it would have been better to join Mexico?
I don’t believe Texas would not have made it as an independent nation. Either the US or Mexico would have eventually invaded and claimed it.
Texas seceded from Mexico and joined the US.
Not sure if you meant ‘if Texas remained part of Mexico?’
Texas can still legally exit. Polk and Tyler forgot to properly record the deed.
Population losses : 2023 is one third of 2022. The downtrend might be over. It’s a higher low. In 2024 population might gain, hop above zero.
8% interest rates froze home sales. I’m guessing a lot of people are trapped. We’ll see what happens if the housing market normalizes.
I don’t see that happening in the suburbs. People are still paying OVER listing prices for homes due to supply and demand. We’re leaving IL next year.
When Rauner Rhinos went all out to beat Ives that was last call alarm.
How much of the gain is from all the illegals that were shipped to Chicongo? Those leaving are the successful, the ambitious and the high tax payers. Those staying or arriving mostly have the only ambition of getting some free stuff. What happens when those paying the taxes leave but the state debt and the pension obligations remain?
Detroit was also once an attractive wealthy city and Chicongo is repeating the same mistakes.
Some Crook County old-timers migrate south to 111th Street to vote in The Late Mayor Daley’s precinct.
Illinois is not really Illinois. Illinois is Chicago and surrounding suburbs which are Democratically Blue beyond belief. I am certain that the reigning political machinery sincerely believes that if some folks can’t appreciate the wonderful liberal and progressive environment the Democrats have created then those unhappy folks should leave. Good riddance to them. Illinois will be so much better off with more rules and regulations. Oh and more taxes. Everything will simply get better and better. Until the rulers run out of other peoples’ money.
Lisa_Hooker wrote “… are Democratically Blue beyond belief.”
Aside from ballot stuffing, I have to wonder what appeal the Democrats have to their voters. For some it is easy to guess:
— Public employees get fat paychecks from voting Democrat.
— Blacks express their resentment towards whites, and their demands for “payback”.
All about taking from others.
How long can that last before the others are gone, or are depleted of anything to take? (At least, by driving out the others, they “win!”)
Taxes pay for streetlights and snowplows, Lisa. 🙂
Apparently taxes are paying for illegal immigrant shelters in places that the resident voters don’t want them. Everyone must get a trophy for showing up.
And after the streetlights and snowplows are paid for, where do the rest of the taxes (the vast majority) go?
Half of property taxes go to schools (very labor intensive industry), 40% go to the city– half of that goes to police and fire. Taxes go to pay a lot of people who do stuff. Cities and schools have a lot of humans/payroll. If you live in the middle of the desert, you dont need as many services.
Maybe more immigrants should be encouraged to settle there.
How do you encourage a large mass of people, who gave up everything to get here, and even risk their families lives, to settle for such a place.
Most of these people were escaping tyranny, homelessness, food shortages, crime, drugs, no jobs, no safety, etc. You would be asking and expecting them to go from the chaos they left and risk life’s for, to settle for more chaos, risking of life, hunger and homelessness, etc. they will have gained nothing.
In fact all Sanctuary States offer pretty much, what they had and left, at their old place they called home…
The Venezuelans on the street begging with their children wrapped up in Chicago cold will be a pain the butt for awhile, but there are places around the world (Japan, Italy, Spain) that would die for the young people that are filtering in here … Germany did just fine adding in the pathetic East Germans. You guys have no patience …
Texas Governor Greg Abbott is working on that for you:
Crew scatters after private plane from Texas drops off dozens of migrants at O’Hare (msn.com)
Don’t forget Pewaukee Airport can accommodate private planes and is closer to best settlement sites in northeast Illinois
“Anyone who thinks Illinois will change is delusional”
That quote above (from Mish) says it all, in one easy to understand sentence.
Nearly 1 Million people have fled in 10 Years! There are only 12+ Million people that live there. If addressing fleeing Illinois was going to gain steam, it would have began about 5 years ago, it is obviously not happening. In fact it appears people are actually clamoring to get out.
Those that could afford to flee, had no real reason to stay, and could find a buyer, are Long Gone! That makes it harder for those that are left of course, as first out is always the easiest and quickest flight away, in scenarios such as this.
The fact that Illinois is a Sanctuary State, and Has Chicago And Cook County as Sanctuary Cities, is an abomination!! There should be A Law that states the following:
“A Sanctuary State or City, LOSES it’s status as such, the Very Moment it ask for ANY MONEY from The Government, ANY Taxpayer Money is Given to them, for Any Reason, Any Money Is Owed to the People of Said State And/Or City”
How can you be considered a Sanctuary if you can’t take care of yourself, because you Owe So Much Money to Everybody / Anybody else? That would be like taxing the homeless. Does Illinois Tax there homeless? That would explain a lot!!
How can a run down, drug riddled, gang run, politically corrupt, broke and borrowing endlessly City like Chicago, become a sanctuary for anyone, anything and for any reason?
Can you say: “Virtue Signaling”
Even Rahm is hiding out in Japan these days.
You can’t take the farm with you or Illinois would be a sandy desert.
Not so much sand anymore.
They shipped it to North Dakota to support fracking oil/gas wells.
Governor George Ryan prohibited the fracking in Illinois. And then whaddaya know, look what happened to him…
I’m sure the same phenomenon is happening in California. I left in 2020. Best move I ever made. And no, I did not bring California politics to my new home.
Yeah, in your commute you have to leave the house at 4:45 to avoid the traffic and stay at work until late – to avoid the traffic.
Or you can be like most of them. Since the work doesn’t deserve any time that’s not paid for they leave at 5 and clog the “expressways” breathing exhaust fumes.
Did I mention that you can’t fix stupid.
True, that was my life in the Valley back in 1990…we fled the Valley after I sold my stock and saw the life it was: SHIT.