Record outmigration in 2022 pushed Illinois’ population change into the red for the 9th straight year, the second-longest streak in the nation, the Census Bureau reported.
Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri are attracting residents while Iowa and Michigan are the only neighbor states losing residents to other states
More Illinoisans fled for other states from July 2021-July 2022 than during any other year in recorded history, driving the state’s record population decline.
New Census Bureau data shows people moving out of Illinois continues to drive the state’s population decline. So many moved away in the year before July 2022, it was almost like Rockford disappearing.
Illinois shoppers will pay an average 8.81% in sales taxes on presents this holiday, the eighth most nationwide. Some Cook County communities will charge up to 11.5%.
Illinois’ five statewide pensions system saw their debt increase by nearly $10 billion to a grand total of $140 billion in fiscal year 2022. Pensions will cost the state nearly $11 billion next year, but that’s still $4.4 billion too little.
Unlike parents in the Chicagoland Christmas classic, Illinoisans could end up under investigation, arrested or even lose custody for leaving their eighth graders unsupervised this holiday. Parents in 30 other states get to decide for themselves.
Tax friendliness reports ranked Illinois as the most expensive for middle-class families and second most expensive for retirees. Analysts cited high property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes as cinching the bottom spots.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.