Illinois gained nearly 68,000 people from 2023 to 2024, reversing a recent trend of population losses, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. Much of the increase was due to an influx of migrants, a trend that played out across the country.
The increase of 67,899, or .5%, was small, and paled in comparison to the growth of 563,000 in Texas, but the numeric growth was the most in the Midwest.
Illinois had 12,710,158 residents as of July 1, 2024, the Census estimated, ranking 6th among states nationally, still down by about 112,000 from 2020.
Nationwide, the population grew by nearly 1.0%, surpassing 340 million. This is the biggest increase since 2001, and a notable change from the record low growth rate of 0.2% in 2021. The growth was primarily driven by rising international migration, which affected every state.
Almost all of the growth in Illinois was due to international immigration, with 112,955 new residents coming to the state from other nations. A net increase of births over deaths boosted the state population by a roughly 11,000 increase in the state’s population. Chicago reported more than 51,000 immigrants have been bused to the area since 2022, primarily by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in a protest of national immigration policy.
But Illinois lost 56,235 people in the past year to domestic migration — those moving to another state. Nationwide, people generally have been moving to the South for years, but the loss in Illinois was far more than other Midwestern states, and only California and New York lost more. Since 2020, a net of 418,056 Illinoisans left for other states, while 278,657 international immigrants have replaced them.
Overall since 2020, Illinois has lost 111,656 residents.
A poll by NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois in 2019 found that 61% of residents thought about moving out of state in 2019, citing taxes as the number one reason.
More recently, 51% of Illinoisans said they would leave the state if they had the opportunity, according to a poll last year from Echelon Insights and the Illinois Policy Institute.
