(The Center Square) – Illinois state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, is quick to point an accusatory finger when it comes to assessing blame for the state’s fast dwindling population.
New U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by Illinois Policy Institute shows since 2020, 84% of all Illinois communities have lost population with small towns being hit the hardest. More than 900 of the state’s 1,294 communities of roughly 10,000 population lost residents over the last five years. Many of those leaving cite high taxes as a driving force for them deciding to walk away.
“Democrats haven’t recognized two letters that they seem not to understand,” McLaughlin told The Center Square. “It’s the letter N and the letter O. They have not said ‘no’ to any of these social programs, to any of the social experiments. All they’ve been doing is taking our taxes and funding at twice the rate of inflation. They’re addicted to spending and there isn’t enough money this year to make all of their constituents and lobbyists happy.”
Illinois state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills
McLaughlin said it’s not just smaller cities in Illinois seeing people leave, Chicago also lost more than 27,000 residents in 2024 compared to April 2020 levels.
Across the city, the downward spiral comes in spite of an ongoing influx of international migrants that has seen at least 240,000 settle in the area over the last five years, even increasing the city’s population by roughly 22,000 residents in 2024.
McLaughlin insists options he and other Republicans have already put forth could make all the difference.
“If you listen to the governor, he likes to believe that we are a thriving, upwardly mobile state for all residents and the outmigration is evident that, not only is he wrong, but his identity politics and his social engineering programs are having absolutely no impact on changing the lives of everyday Illinoisans,” he said. “The spending that we are doing needs to be going to how to alleviate property taxes, business taxes, and regulation.”
As recently as 2019, polling from NPR Illinois and the University of Illinois found more than six out of every 10 residents thought about leaving the state with high taxes fueling their thinking.
