Charting the Illinois Exodus

by Ashley Muchow Check it out!  The Tax Foundation released a nifty interactive tool showing state-to-state migration data for a range of years between 1993 and 2008. The tool tracks the flow of both people and their income based on IRS tax return data. You can select any state and track the net inflows and outflows to and from...

by Ashley Muchow

Check it out!  The Tax Foundation released a nifty interactive tool showing state-to-state migration data for a range of years between 1993 and 2008.

The tool tracks the flow of both people and their income based on IRS tax return data.

You can select any state and track the net inflows and outflows to and from a particular state or all other states.

I found the following to be revealing:

• Between 1993 and 2008, 3.4 million Illinois citizens picked up and moved elsewhere.
• A net outflow of $30,368,683 in income hit Illinois between these 16 years.
  • This is nearly double the $15,880,307 leaving Michigan within the same time period—a state known for its struggling economy and mass out migration.
• Of this $30 million, 8 percent went to Wisconsin and 7 percent entered Indiana—two healthierneighboring states.

Getting a better picture of the population shift raises the question: Is Illinois’s shaky economy and poor fiscal management driving out hard-working citizens?