December 30, 2019 – The US Census Bureau releases its latest data on population trends in the states and it shows Illinois came in second on the list of those states suffering the highest loss of population. Only New York, with a net loss of 76,000 had a bigger decline in population than Illinois, which had a net loss of 51,000 people.
If the average citizen spends $20,000 a year, that means the state’s economy will lose over $1 billion every year due to these 51,000 leaving the state.
This loss in 2019 follows losses in population over the preceding years, and the pace of those moving out continues to increase yearly. In 2018, Illinois lost an estimated 45,000 people. In 2017, the state saw some 40,000 people leave. Those losses were on top of 38,000 moving out in 2016 and 25,000 in 2015. Over the last FIVE years, the state has lost some 171,000 people, or approximately the size of the state’s capital city of Springfield.
The Census Report notes forty states and the District of Columbia saw population increases between 2018 and 2019.
Ten states lost population between 2018 and 2019, four of which had losses over 10,000 people. The 10 states that lost population were New York (-76,790; -0.4%), Illinois (-51,250; -0.4%), West Virginia (-12,144; -0.7%), Louisiana (-10,896; -0.2%), Connecticut (-6,233; -0.2%), Mississippi (-4,871; -0.2%), Hawaii (-4,721; -0.3%), New Jersey (-3,835; 0.0%), Alaska (-3,594; -0.5%), and Vermont (-369 ; -0.1%).
