157,337 People Left the Chicago Area for Other States

The numbers

In 2022-23, 157,337 people moved from the Chicago area to other states. In the same year, 116,485 people moved from other states to the Chicago area, which works out to a net loss of 40,852 people to other states. The top five destination states were Florida (16,025), Indiana (15,030), Texas (12,874), California (11,096), and Wisconsin (10,337).

The Census Bureau estimates run through July 2025 and cover Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry counties combined. They show a net loss of 38,847 to other states in the year to July 2025, compared with a net loss of 47,392 to other states in the year to July 2011, and 37,016 arrivals from other countries in the year to July 2025, compared with 24,910 in 2011.

The map-and-bars video behind this story shows the same IRS figures for each year from 2011-12 to 2022-23, using a two-year average for the bars.

What’s next

The IRS has not published 2023-24 migration files; the agency’s file for that year returned a not-found error when we checked on Nov. 12, 2026, so 2022-23 is the latest year. We will update the figures when the IRS releases the next file. The Census Bureau’s next population estimates are the next check on the trend.

Method note: the IRS counts tax filers and their claimed dependents only, and it suppresses small flows, so the state totals listed above are lower bounds. The region here is Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry counties combined. More local coverage is on the Chicago market page. Both datasets are public: the IRS Statistics of Income migration data and the Census Bureau population estimates.