Some Illinois politicians are using an estimate to revise the Census count and claim Illinois doesn't have a problem with its residents moving away. A closer look shows they are wrong, and the danger of denial.

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.