Losing Illinois: Job market, taxes driving outward moves

Haley Myrick (left) and her husband, Alex, celebrate moving into their new house. Haley Myrick (left) and her husband, Alex, celebrate moving into their new house. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Losing Illinois: Job market, taxes driving outward moves 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

PALMYRA — Just a few short months after graduating from Blackburn College n Carlinville, former Palmyra resident Haley Myrick knew she likely would have to move if she wanted to find a job in her field.

“I was living with my parents and working in Springfield,” Myrick said. “Living in a rural area, I knew my only options were Springfield or Chicago, and I wasn’t moving to Chicago. There just wasn’t much variety in my field.”

With a degree in communications, Myrick had trouble finding a good paying job in her field that fit her, she said.

Springfield and Chicago were not at the top of her list of places to settle down. In fact, she didn’t know if she even wanted to stay in Illinois with its declining job opportunities and growing taxes.

Moving to Indiana after a friend helped her find a job gave her the solution for which she’d been looking. In 2017, Myrick and her husband, Alex, made the move to Castleton, Indiana.

“My friend had moved over to Indiana and I knew that if I got over and got established, there would be more options,” Myrick said. “My job wasn’t initially in my area of study, but the job market is so much better.

“My brother had already left to move to St. Louis. My little brother went to Missouri as well,” she said. “All my family is from Illinois and I had to really think, ‘Is this the state I want to put down roots in?’ We all knew I’d have more opportunities if I left.”

According to United Van Lines, 45.6% of the people who used its service to leave Illinois in 2018 left for a job; in 2017, 51% left for a job. The number has been higher in other years, with roughly 54% leaving in 2016 for a job and 54.7% in 2015.

The moving company’s survey asked customers for other reasons they had for leaving: retirement, health reasons, family or lifestyle. Jobs ranked the highest each year since 2015.

The age range percentage showed 22.4% of those leaving in 2015 were under the age of 34. Those between 55 and 64 were the most frequent to leave in 2016 at 24.4% and in 2017 at 24.9%. In 2018, those in the 65 and above age group led the exodus at 26.74%.

In addition to a better job market, taxes are less in Indiana than what Myrick would have to pay in Illinois while the economy is a lot stronger, she said.

Myrick wanted to be within traveling distance of her parents who remain in Illinois. But she didn’t want to stay in Illinois because she felt it would continue to decline from the standpoint of taxes, the economy and job opportunities.

“My mom was sad to see all of us move away, but they’re not happy with the economic state of Illinois either,” Myrick said. “She’s glad I got out and got settled and knew it was better in the long term to relocate somewhere else. We are just beyond the border, but things are so different.”

Myrick isn’t the only person to leave Illinois for better opportunities.

Since 2015, the United Van Lines survey showed that more people using their services to leave the state than enter it. In 2015, 63.2% of customers were leaving Illinois compared to 36.8% moving in. Just under 63% of survey participants were leaving the state in 2016, creeping upward to 63.4% in 2017 and 65.9 % in 2018.

In 2018, United Van Lines had 7,629 shipments in Illinois. Of those 5,026 — just under 66% — were leaving the state; only 2,603 loads were coming into it. The only state with a higher outbound rate in 2018 was New Jersey, with a rate of 66.8%.

Gwen Giovengo, formerly of Joliet, moved in 2015 to Cleveland, Tennessee, where she said they have lower property taxes and a better government.

“Our decision to leave was based on the cost of taxes, the corrupt government in Illinois and the schools,” she said. “… The only thing we miss about Illinois is our family.”

Giovengo said her family paid more than $2,500 in property taxes for a corner, single-lot home in 2010. Their home in Tennessee, which sits on two acres, costs them less than $1,000 a year in property taxes nearly a decade later.

Property taxes — along with rising costs for vehicle license plate renewals and gas taxes — are nudging a Greene County resident toward moving out of Illinois.

“We’re thinking about leaving,” Melinda Gallup said. Her 1,400-square-foot home in Greene County costs them roughly $6,000 a year in property taxes.

Formerly of Ohio, Gallup moved to Illinois because of her late husband. But she could be planning another move, she said.

“The rise in costs for plate renewal, tax on food … and the 5% income tax is just too much,” Gallup said. “I loathe Illinois.”