Illinois, California and New York shrank the most and lost people fastest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas and Florida grew the most. Idaho, Utah and Montana grew the fastest.

More Illinoisans fled for other states from July 2020-July 2021 than during any other year in recorded history, driving the state’s record population decline.

Illinois suffered the largest population decline in the Midwest and of neighboring states during 2021.

Despite a higher-than-expected 2020 population count, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates Illinoisans moving away was the sole reason for the state’s record loss of the equivalent of nearly everyone in Springfield.

Census estimates predict nearly all Illinois municipalities shed population last year, with a greater share of large communities being affected.

Each of Illinois’ metropolitan areas got smaller from July 2019-July 2020, census estimates showed.

Census estimates tallied population decline in 98 of Illinois’ 102 counties. Only Los Angeles County lost more people than Cook County last year.

New data showed domestic migration continued to be the only reason for Illinois’ population decline.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker inaccurately identified students leaving for college as the reason for Illinois’ population decline. Illinoisans between the ages of 26 and 54 made up 64.5% of the net decline in population from 2017-2018, the most recent year of available data.