Illinois has lost more millennials than almost any other state in the nation in recent years. Young adults and college students are fleeing to states with better job opportunities and a more affordable cost of living.
MEDIA CONTACT: Meghan Keenan (312) 607-4977
CHICAGO (May 18, 2017) – Illinois is suffering from an out-migration crisis, and millennials are leading the exodus.
According to a new report from the Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois lost more young adults and college students than almost any other state in the nation between 2011 and 2014. Illinois suffered a total net loss of as many as 148,000 millennials, which includes millennial taxpayers and their dependents, as well as college students.
“We’re losing some of our best and brightest young people, and it’s going to have a long-term impact on the state’s economy,” said Madelyn Harwood, a policy writer at the Institute and author of the report. “We’re not just losing some of the most competitive job candidates, we’re losing new ideas, small-business startups, and so much potential to grow our state.”
- Illinois is the nation’s second-biggest net loser of both millennial taxpayers and their dependents and millennial college students.
- Illinois lost a net of 81,000 millennial taxpayers and their dependents between 2011 and 2014, according to the most recent IRS data available.
- Illinois lost an average of 17,000 millennial college students each year over the same period, on net.
- New York was the only state to have lost more millennial taxpayers and dependents than Illinois, and New Jersey was the only state to have lost more college-bound millennials than Illinois.
- The states that gained the most millennial taxpayers and dependents, according to the IRS data, were Texas at 275,000, Colorado at 71,000, Washington at 58,000, Oregon at 24,000, and Tennessee at 23,000.
Millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 are expected to make up 75 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2025. If the millennial migration trend continues, Illinois stands to lose thousands more young people in their prime earning years to other states.
The report says millennials’ instinct to leave Illinois makes sense. Soaring tuition rates at the state’s public universities far outpace the cost of college in neighboring states, and decades of government overspending and poor pension funding by Illinois lawmakers have ensured that millennial taxpayers can look forward to financing a massive amount of retirement debt from the generations before them.
The full Illinois Policy Institute report is available online: http://illin.is/millennial
For bookings or interviews, contact Meghan Keenan at media@illinoispolicy.org or (312) 607-4977