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Ted Dabrowski, president of the nonprofit think tank Wirepoints,
said the data shows a majority of Illinois cities lost
population.
“Ninety-three out of the 122 cities shrunk in the past year,”
said Dabrowski. “That basically includes all the big places,
Cicero, Berwyn, Blue Island, Elwood Park, I could go down the
list, they all shrunk and that should be a big concern to
everybody.”
Dabrowski said the data shows that southern states are
attracting people because they are more friendly with their
government policies, job creation and lower taxes.
The top five cities for population gain in the country were
located in Texas, Florida and North Carolina. While Chicago lost
population, the fourth largest city in the country, Houston,
Texas, gained population and now trails the Windy City by only
350,000.
A study by Pew Charitable Trusts showed that Illinois had the
second highest population loss from 2008 to 2023. Only West
Virginia lost a higher percentage.
Dabrowski said if things don’t change, Chicago is going to
suffer the same fate as San Francisco.
“San Francisco has lost 7% of its population since 2020,” said
Dabrowski. “That’s a big number and if things get worse it could
create real problems. Chicago only lost 3%, but that is in the
wrong direction.”
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