(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The moving company U-Haul is out with its annual look at the movement of people and finds that Illinois is continuing to lose residents.
The findings mirror data from the U.S. census bureau, which estimated that Illinois was one of eight states in the country to see its population decrease in 2023.
U-Haul looks at one-way moves and ranks Illinois near the bottom with the third worst “growth rate," though people are leaving at a slower pace than recent years.
“One-way transactions in 2023 remained below the record-breaking levels immediately following the pandemic," U-Haul International President “J.T.” Taylor said.
The people leaving, however, are going to Texas, Florida, the Carolinas and Tennessee. They’re the top five destinations, the data indicates. Taylor said “migration to states in the Southeast and Southwest is still very pronounced."
Other states seeing the most people leave are California, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Census figures show Illinois has lost about 2% of the population since 2020. The population is about 12.5 million now.
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