Lawmakers: Illinois should focus on business, education reforms to reverse population drops

[March 31, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers on both sides of the aisle recognize the state’s population is in decline and say something needs to be done to reverse the trend.

The latest U.S. Census data released Thursday shows population trends for counties across the United States. Of 102 Illinois counties, 92 lost population over the year ending June 2022. Cook County was the second largest loser of people in the U.S. behind Los Angeles County in California.

Census data also shows Illinois has lost significant population to outmigration nine years in a row.

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, said he sees the decline in his Chicago community.

“I think that if you look at the numbers, it’s clear that we have a loss of people in the state of Illinois,” Ford told The Center Square. “Even in the community that I live in, Austin, we’ve lost population.”

State Sen. Win Stoller, R-Germantown Hills, said his community and family are seeing the exodus from Illinois for better opportunities elsewhere.

“My own son has moved to Chattanooga,” Stoller told The Center Square. “Chattanooga was the same size as my home town of Peoria just 10 years ago and now it’s double the size because they have attracted a new Volkswagen electric car plant and that’s where my son works, in Chattanooga.”

Stoller said Tennessee has more job opportunities and notes it also has no income tax.

Construction continues on the North entrance of the Illinois State Capitol - Greg Bishop / The Center Square

Gov. J.B. Pritzker denied the state is losing population, saying Illinois has increased in size.

“We did not lose population as you saw when the Census Bureau data came through for the 2020 census,” Pritzker said. “We actually gained population especially as they looked more closely after the initial announcements at what happened state to state.”

That doesn’t comport with public Census data, including reapportionment where Illinois lost a seat in the U.S. Congress, or IRS data showing Illinois tax filers moving to other states. Pritzker’s comments also don’t comport with private data from moving companies showing Illinois leading the nation in outbound migration.

Stoller said the first step to addressing the issues is to admit there’s a problem and to “not put our heads in the sand.”

“If we want to be attracting people to Illinois, we need to start with our tax environment, our business regulations, to promote jobs, to promote economic opportunity,” Stoller said.

Ford suggested that things the state is already doing will reverse population decline.

“We’re investing more money in higher ed, we’re investing more money in growing childhood education and we’re investing more money in businesses,” Ford said. “I hope this will help drive people back to Illinois and sort of stop people from leaving the state.”

The U.S. Census shows Illinois at 12.6 million, down from 12.7 million the year before.

Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of Springfield.