Prairie State Wire

Illinois’ population has dropped drastically since 2010 with 93 of its 102 counties losing citizens, according to the latest Census Bureau data.

Between 2010 and 2019, the state lost 168,682 residents. 

While Cook County lost nearly 49,000 residents — the most in the state — Winnebago and St. Clair counties lost 12,500 and 10,700 residents.

Lake, LaSalle, Macon, Madison, Peoria, Rock Island and Vermillion all lost more than 5,000 residents in the last decade.

The nine counties that did not lose residents —  Champaign, DuPage,  Grundy, Kane, Kendall, McLean, Monroe, Will and Williamson — all increased the number of residents from Williamson with 165 new residents to Kane with 16,335 new residents.

Several counties that shrunk, when measured as a percentage, have high percentages of loss, like Alexander losing 29.8% of its residents and Gallatin losing 13.4% of its residents. Pulaski lost 13.4%of its residents and Hardin lost 11.5% of its residents.

Cass, Stark, Massac and Schuyler all lost 10% of their residents. Henderson and Marshall both lost 9% of their residents.

Wirepoints noted that many counties that were already small lost 10% or more of their residents. Eight counties lost at least 10% of their residents.

Downstate counties lost the most, losing nearly 144,000 of their residents.

Wirepoints noted that Cook County was one of only six counties in the nation’s top 50 counties to lose residents. The only county to lose more than Cook County was Wayne County, Michigan.

Illinois was also the state to lose the most residents in the nation, with West Virginia coming in behind Illinois.

Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner of Wirepoints believe the state’s politics and policy are to blame for the loss, saying that residents are rejecting what’s going on in the state.

“Until the state’s policies are flipped on their head — until Illinoisans finally get the big spending and governance reforms they desperately need — expect many more to uproot their lives to find opportunities elsewhere,” Dabrowski and Klingner wrote.