Morton Salt joins other major companies moving headquarters out of Illinois

Morton Salt is relocating its headquarters to Overland Park, Kansas, adding to the growing list of companies leaving Illinois, a state known for its hostile business climate.

Morton Salt, known for its iconic blue and yellow umbrella girl logo, will soon join Citadel, TTX, Boeing, Caterpillar and Tyson Foods by moving its headquarters out of Illinois.

The company’s departure follows a series of high-profile corporate exits that have plagued Illinois in recent years. Hedge-fund giant Citadel moved its headquarters to Miami, citing a better corporate environment and concerns over crime in Chicago.

CNBC ranked Illinois 33rd in the U.S. for business friendliness, an improvement from their 2021 rankings. Yet corporations continue to flee. Compared to neighboring states, Illinois saw the largest drop since 2018 in the Tax Foundation’s Business Tax Climate 2024 rankings.

Those rankings show Illinois’ business climate has stagnated, as it was ranked 36th for four straight years and dropped to 37th in 2024.

While some companies, such as McDonald’s and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, have hinted at the possibility of leaving, others including Kellogg, and Kimberly-Clark have expanded their presence in the area. It’s the overall trend that is troubling, with downtown Chicago’s office vacancy rate reaching a record high of 25.1% in March.

State and city leaders have been slow to address the issues driving businesses out of Illinois. The state’s corporate tax rate is No. 2 in the nation. It’s state and local tax burden is the nation’s highest.

High taxes are why most Illinoisans have moved out in the past decade, dropping the population by 548,916.

As Morton Salt and others depart, Illinois leaders need to carefully examine why. Failing to treat the departures of people and businesses seriously will cost the state’s economy dearly and make life tougher on those who remain.