Leaving Illinois? You’ll Probably Move To 1 Of These 3 Places

For the longest time, Illinois was at, or right next to the top when it comes to states that are steadily losing population. The first time I heard the term "outbound migration" it was being used to describe what many Illinois residents were engaging in.

Outbound migration is just a nice, clean, academic way of saying leaving, bolting, exiting, or just plain moving away. You can see why governmental types would use it, because it sounds more pleasant than it really is.

Here's an example that can help you tell if you're cut out to be a governmental spokesperson. Which would sound better:

• My wife stormed out and took all of her things with her.
• My wife engaged in outbound migration.

If you chose the first one, sorry. Being a spokesperson for a government agency is not in your future. If you chose the second one, you're probably already in government.

When People Choose To Leave Illinois, They Usually Just Answer With One Word When Someone Asks Them Why They Left

The biggest reason for leaving Illinois for most of the people who've departed can be boiled down to a single word: Taxes.

Illinois' tax environment hasn't changed for the better (some would say it's gotten worse, if anything), but the amount of Illinois residents who are leaving the state has slowed down somewhat.

Illinois is now #5 in the United States when it comes to residents heading for the exits, having lost 344,000 (while gaining 228,000) residents to other states in 2022. The top 4, including the number of residents lost, would be these states:

• California (817,700)
• New York (545,600)
• Texas (494,000)
• Florida (489,900)

We know that Illinoisans are still leaving, but did you know that the majority who wave goodbye to the Land of Lincoln are primarily ending up in 3 states? Only one of those states isn't a neighbor of Illinois.

So Many Folks Think That The Residents Who Leave Illinois Are Doing It Because Of Our Weather, So That Must Mean Illinoisans Only Move South To The Sunbelt

I'm sorry to have to tell you that it's not just warmth and sunshine that departing Illinoisans are looking for. Clearly we don't have a problem with places that don't measure their snowfall in feet, because the number-one destination for departing Illinois residents with 35,000 former Illinoisans moving there in the last 12 months is...

In Florida's case, the great weather (except for your occasional killer hurricane) is a bonus, but many Illinoisans who've moved there say no state income tax, along with better job opportunities are what drew them to Florida.

The next two Illinois population-stealing states are our direct neighbors, and I know for a fact that they can't claim better weather than we have here in Illinois. Well, they could, but they'd be lying.

In 2022, Indiana took in 31,000 Illinois residents who were looking for far less excitement and interesting things...to make a new start in a new place that isn't that far from home.

The final state of the three taking Illinoisans away is...

Wisconsin took 27,300 Illinois residents off our hands in 2022...and probably closed the deal by addicting them to cheese curds and cheddar hats while destroying a certain Illinois pro football team. Ruthless.

About 25 thousand former Illinoisans headed for California, and another 25,000 went to Texas. Missouri took 20,000 and Iowa grabbed up 16,500. Kentucky wound up with around 6,000.