(NEXSTAR) — While more than 344,000 people packed up their things and left Illinois last year, another 228,300 decided to move to the Land of Lincoln last year, according to recently released Census data.
The biggest group of new residents — more than 73,600 — came from another country. The data set did not specify which countries people immigrated from.
Another roughly 20,500 came from California, possibly seeking more affordable living conditions. Nearly 20,000 former Texans are now Illinoisans, Census data shows. As for Florida, the state that received the largest group of ex-Illinoisans, only about 14,000 residents relocated to the Prairie State.
Some new Illinois residents didn’t travel nearly as far.
Of our neighbors, it was Missouri that sent the most people to Illinois at almost 16,000. Here’s how many people moved from other neighboring states to ours, according to Census estimates:
Indiana: 13,800
Wisconsin: 12,800
Iowa: 8,500
Kentucky: 4,000
Roughly 12,000 people moved from Michigan to Illinois, data shows.
Census estimates show the fewest new Illinoisans — about 46 — are from South Dakota. That was followed by Rhode Island and Vermont, both of which sent fewer than 100 residents to the Land of Lincoln.
The new data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey. The survey happens more frequently than the official Census and gives people a better idea of changes happening in their community year to year.
About 12.5 million people call Illinois home, according to 2022 Census estimates.
