For the third time since 2014, a bipartisan group wants to amend the Illinois Constitution to affect how state legislative ...

While Illinois lost population as a whole in recent years, 15 of its 102 counties gained residents from 2020 to 2024, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau’s estimates of the ...

Researchers noted that there are some caveats to the data. In states or counties with a smaller population or sample size, the estimates are derived less from the CDC survey responses.

This one-third of counties comprise only 6.6% of the Illinois population, and only 4% of the state’s economy. Per capita income in the secessionist counties is $54,381.

Illinois has a population of almost 13 million people. About half of them live in the greater Chicago area. That gives Chicago a dominant position in Illinois state government and leads to the state's ...