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.

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.

Illinois was the nation’s fifth-largest state until 2020 census data was released. Now Pennsylvania’s population exceeds Illinois’ to take the No. 5 spot.

Illinois will lose one representative in the U.S. House. The state’s population declined for the first time in over 200 years, the 10-year U.S. Census count showed.

Illinois’ decade of population loss, with last year being the worst loss of people since World War II, will cost is one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some thought the new Census would cost Illinois two seats in Congress.

Even subtracting COVID-19 deaths, Illinois still suffered its largest population drop in modern history in the first year of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s fiscal policies, including 20 new tax and fee hikes, as well as his pandemic response.

New census data reveals that for a second year, all 10 metro areas based primarily in Illinois experienced population decline.