Altria announces plant closures in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

The Land of Lincoln’s out-migration crisis is the most severe in the region and worsening over time.

Unlike Illinois, Pennsylvania has actually recovered the number of jobs it lost during the Great Recession, and now has 40,000 more jobs than it had at its pre-recession peak. Illinois, on the other hand, still has 90,000 fewer jobs than it had before the recession, the worst jobs recovery in the U.S.

Illinois has a stunning loss of 105,000 people to other states, causing population to shrink by 22,000.