City of Chicago leading Illinois’ population and workforce losses
An analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute concludes that working-age Illinoisans are fleeing in search of better job opportunities. Ten out of 12 Illinois metro areas faced both outmigration and a shrinking workforce from 2016 to 2017.
Illinois’ loss of population mirrors the amount of Illinoisans who gave up on looking for a job, indicating it is working-age Illinoisans and not retirees who are leading the outmigration out of the state.
Other highlights from the Census report:
- Chicago’s population shrank by 3,825 people from 2016 to 2017. On top of that, more than 11,000 people dropped out of the workforce in the city. This was the third year in a row Chicago shed population.
- Only 15 percent of Illinois communities gained population, concentrated in a handful of suburban areas such as Plainfield (+948) and Bolingbrook (+705) and college towns such as Champaign (+555) and Normal (+33).
- 11 out of Illinois’ 50 biggest cities gained population, totaling about 3,000 new residents in those communities.
- Of the top 15 major U.S. cities with the highest population growth by percentage, seven were in Texas, a state with a friendly business environment and no state income tax.
Quote from Chief Economist Orphe Divounguy:
“Working-age Illinoisans are fleeing. People move for better opportunities, and in Illinois income growth has been lagging the rest of the nation. If you look at every single metro area in Illinois except for Chicago, income growth lags the rest of the nation by a significant amount.
“If Illinois wants to reverse its outmigration losses, the state must reduce its overall tax burden to give families and businesses enough confidence to plant roots and invest here.”