Surus Enterprises
The Great Displacement
Progressive policies are swapping out middle- and upper-income families for the poor and illegal migrants, with disastrous consequences for the state's taxpayers and its economy
By PAUL VALLAS - November 3, 2025
Whether by accident or by design, the “Great Displacement” is already underway. Illinois is experiencing a colossal demographic upheaval — losing affluent residents through outmigration while gaining relatively poorer ones through both interstate and international migration. This shift is largely the product of the state’s so‑called progressive policies. High taxes and fees remain the primary reason Illinoisans cite for leaving, followed closely by hopelessly failing schools, rising crime, limited economic opportunity, and expansive sanctuary measures that encourage low‑income in‑migration.
According to Wirepoints, Illinois continues to hemorrhage wealthy residents. Since 2000, the state has lost roughly 1.6 million people — third most in the nation, behind only California and New York. Chicago’s population, even with the recent influx of migrants, is now at its lowest level in nearly a century. Almost every county in Illinois has experienced a decline in population. Even more troubling, Illinois isn’t merely losing residents — it’s losing income.
The IRS reports that in 2022 alone, 87,311 residents left Illinois, taking with them $9.9 billion in adjusted gross income. The real damage runs deeper: The outflow disproportionately includes residents in their prime earning and spending years. This brain and income drain erodes the tax base, shrinking critical property, sales, and consumption tax revenues that support state and local budgets.
A detailed Wirepoints analysis of IRS migration data for 2022 shows Illinois was the nation’s second‑biggest loser of households aged 26-35 earning more than $200,000. Unsurprisingly, zero-income-tax states such as Florida and Texas were the leading destinations for these upwardly mobile millennials. Illinois has been bleeding this cohort for more than a decade, but the acceleration is alarming.