Illinois is becoming more urban, and its population is becoming better educated, higher-paid, and more likely to be foreign-born.
Those are some of the conclusions of an analysis of census data conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Official Census counts showed that Illinois’ population declined by 0.1% from 2010 to 2020, but university researchers concluded that Illinois’ population was likely undercounted by 2%, and income tax data show a net increase of 200,000 more workers paying income taxes.
A link to the entire report can be found here:
The report also concluded that people who have moved into Illinois are better educated than those who move away and more likely to arrive for college.
The authors found that while Illinois lost residents to net domestic migration from 2013 through 2022, these losses were almost entirely offset by the addition of migrants from abroad. In fact, higher education enrollment rates were 6% points higher for adults who moved into Illinois from other states and 14% points higher for adult migrants from abroad than for adults who moved out of Illinois.
More good news for people who call the Prairie State home: People who stayed in Illinois have 16% higher average annual household incomes than those who left and are more likely to be homeowners. The authors concluded that the data points do not support claims that high taxes or estate taxes are the primary reasons why people move out of state or that high-income earners are disproportionately moving out of state.
