Leaving California and New York behind, a new state is in contention to be the “most dysfunctional” in the United States.
Illinois is grappling with a number of issues that have caused an increase in the number of residents leaving the state.
The state has struggled to create jobs and its public pension debt has ballooned to nearly $150 billion. Meanwhile, its population has declined, hurting tax revenues.
Conservative think tanks have now grouped Illinois with other blue states like New York and California, which have also faced an exodus amid problems ranging from immigration to crime.
‘Unemployment rates are very high; Wage growth is lagging compared to most other states,” said Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute.
Hill told the Daily call: ‘The Census Bureau has reported that residents are leaving the state en masse to the tune of hundreds of thousands each year, to such an extent that the state’s population has actually been declining for the past 10 years.
Illinois is grappling with a number of issues that have led to an increase in the number of residents leaving the state, which has been touted as one of the “most dysfunctional” states in the United States. In the photo: Chicago, the most populous city in Illinois.
Members of the FBI’s Evidence Response Team Unit investigate in downtown Highland Park, Illinois, on July 5, 2022, the day after a deadly mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade.
Tents used by homeless people sit along an underground sidewalk downtown on April 22, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
“So by any metric, quantitatively in terms of outcomes, the Illinois economy is lagging.”
Census Bureau data reveals that the population fell by around 32,826 people in the year to July 2023. The population of 12,549,689 was also more than a quarter of a million less than in April 2020.
Illinois’ pension debt also grew $2.6 billion last year to $142.3 billion in unfunded liabilities, state data show.
A September 2022 report from Equable said it has the second-worst-funded state pension in the country after Kentucky.
State accountants also project it will have a budget deficit of $891 million in the next fiscal year.
Gov. JB Pritzker defended his record in office, saying in a State of the State and budget address in February that his administration has “grown Illinois’ economy to more than $1 trillion.”
Illinois’ unemployment rate of 4.8 percent is also the fifth highest in the country.
Gov. JB Pritzker defended his record in office, saying in a State of the State and budget address in February that his administration has “grown Illinois’ economy to more than $1 trillion.”
But Hill said the budget shortfall, along with out-of-state migration, will deepen the problems.
“Therefore, the State projects budget deficits for the coming years, without changes in spending or income, which will undoubtedly be affected by migration,” he added.
‘Immigrants take more than $10 billion in out-of-state income when we lose people to internal migration, so it certainly has an impact not only on state pockets but also on local tax revenues.
“But they are not the root cause of the state’s budget stress, because the state also has another very important problem to deal with, which is unfunded pension obligations that are eating up state and local government budgets and crowding out the financing and absorbing large amounts of money. sources of income.’
The situation in Illinois follows similar trends in New York and California, which have lost hundreds of thousands of residents in recent years, many of them moving to low-tax red states such as Florida and Texas.
US Census Bureau data released last October revealed that California and New York combined lost nearly 1.4 million residents in 2022.
Florida gained about 249,064 people in the same period, while Texas had 174,261 more newcomers than left.
A Chicago police officer detains a migrant near a shelter at the former Standard Club in Chicago on April 16, 2024.
U.S. Census Bureau data released last October revealed that California and New York combined lost nearly 1.4 million residents in 2022. Overall, California saw a net loss of 341,866 people, up from 244,137 In New York.
Overall, California recorded a net loss of 341,866 people, compared to 244,137 in New York.
Population experts have long studied the flows of people in the United States. Some explanations for interstate migration patterns are widely accepted.
Most Americans move for better jobs, affordable housing, cheaper costs of living, and to reduce their tax bills.
Some shy away from high-crime areas, homelessness and the sight of drug addicts stumbling on sidewalks, a growing problem in parts of California and Oregon.
Social problems have been a headache for officials in cities like San Francisco and Portland.
William Frey, a demographer at The Brookings Institution, a think tank, said most Americans hit the road for money.
“People moving interstate are motivated by work, housing and family reasons,” Frey told DailyMail.com.
Major relocation trends in recent years have seen New Yorkers flock to Florida and Californians choose Texas, he noted.