37 Comments - Anotheretiree - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:16 am: IF we could just drop our median income $9,056 then we would be in league with Indiana ! I have confidence in Gov. Rauner getting us there. - AC - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:19 am: Yet again, Minnesota appears to provide the best economic model to follow in the Midwest. - Been There - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:22 am: Even though Idaho had beat us in manufacturing jobs they didn’t do so well in increasing income. Up less than 1%. I think we beat out all the states that created more manufacturing jobs around us - Ken Peal - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:24 am: I wouldn’t read to much into those numbers. Income is up because a few households went from $2 million per year to $8 million per year. The numbers are off. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:25 am: === Income is up because a few households went from $2 million per year to $8 million per year=== That would be average, not median. - IllinoisBoi - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:28 am: So in the economic hellhole called Illinois incomes rose 3.7% while in the earthly paradise known as Indiana incomes only rose 2.1%? How can this be? - Minnesota Logic - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:28 am: ==Yet again, Minnesota appears to provide the best economic model to follow in the Midwest.== Hmmmm….how interesting that a state that has a progressive income tax and sales tax exemptions for groceries/clothing. As a person who lived in Minnesota during college, it sure was nice. - Truthteller - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:34 am: Our poverty rate fell more than did theirs and our income increased more, so we want to emulate Indiana because? - Reality Check - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:35 am: Of the 13 worst states with the highest poverty (those in purple on the map) ALL but two are anti-union “right to work” states. - TinyDancer(FKASue) - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:39 am: To quote James Kwak - “Yay! We’re Almost as Rich as We Were in 1998!” - Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 11:39 am: What a turnaround. - JS Mill - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:02 pm: Everyone is leaving Illinois for the lower income/benefit/slower growth Shangri La’s of Indiana and Wisconsin. It would appear that the folks leaving are actually helping to raise the Illinois median income. Does that mean only the lower income people are leaving? Well, ok then. /s - James Knell - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:06 pm: It’s obvious that Illinois has some serious work to do. It would be smart to ditch the 19th century style “class war” and do project-by-project real economic development. Nawwww! - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:11 pm: Further proof that the supply side free-market, neoliberal economics do not work. - IllinoisBoi - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:24 pm: ==Does that mean only the lower income people are leaving? Well, ok then. /s == Seriously, I’ve wondered that. Who is it that is leaving Illinois? Who is staying? As a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture report states: “Occupations and industries associated with higher education, such as education and health services, have done relatively well since the recession, providing high-education counties with more jobs to support a growing population.” So more higher education = more jobs and population growth? Who knew? Rauner doesn’t. - anon - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:25 pm: All those numbers look really great. Now tell the class how the US Census recently changed the methodology they used to goal seek the numbers –>> http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-15/deconstructing-median-income-farce - thechampaignlife - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:27 pm: You mean the 5% tax did not destroy the middle class? - GA Watcher - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:31 pm: Just think how much income would have grown if the House Speaker and the Senate President had agreed to the Governor’s Turnaround Agenda when he first took office. Obviously, we blew a big opportunity to make Illinois great again. Sorry, mixing up my billionaire businessmen. /s - Ron - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:33 pm: Great job Governor! Keep up the great work of fighting the greed crazed public employee unions and Mike Madigan! - The Dude Abides - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:36 pm: @anon Even if your source is correct that doesn’t explain why Illinois increase is more than Indiana. - Scamp640 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:47 pm: This just shows the vapidity of the Turnaround agenda. It is just empty, useless, self-serving rhetoric. Lower poverty rates in Illinois compared to surrounding states is at least partially the legacy of strong unions. What is ironic about the Raunerites touting the value of high-paying manufacturing jobs, is that they were high-paying good jobs because of unions. Without unions, manufacturing workers would be paid no better than farm laborers. But Rauner wants to get rid of unions. When factory workers earn no more than a 7/11 clerks, what does Raunerite political rhetoric sound like then? - Ron - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:51 pm: The city of Chicago is primarily losing lower income residents. I don’t know about the rest of the state. - Juice - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 12:55 pm: Both anon, and zerohedge for that matter, aren’t exactly providing much useful commentary. The complaint in the article is that there was a phased in change that was fully implemented in 2014, but not necessarily for years prior to that. But because we are talking about growth between 2014 and 2015 only, and that change was first fully implemented in 2014, for this purpose, its an irrelevant complaint. The article also bashes the numbers for using CPI-U-RS instead of CPI-U. But this also makes no sense, since CPI-U-RS is more accurate, and that currently, the difference between the two in minuscule. (Its primary impact is seen when looking at rates of inflation in the 70s and 80s, not today.) - simple mind - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:05 pm: It would be nice if we could overlay cost of living comparisons on this data. I wonder if the cost of living went up in Illinois and went down elsewhere? or vice versa? That would make a difference wouldn’t it? - Big Mouth - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:09 pm: Can anyone tell me if government payments to individuals is included in the census statistics? - City Zen - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:13 pm: ==Yet again, Minnesota appears to provide the best economic model to follow in the Midwest.== Minnesota taxes retirement income. - Trolling Troll - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:16 pm: Hundred bucks says the Guv will never mention this data. - City Zen - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:18 pm: == So more higher education = more jobs and population growth?== Generally, but what if all those new jobs are government employees? - Honeybear - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:21 pm: –Great job Governor! Keep up the great work of fighting the greed crazed public employee unions and Mike Madigan–! Hilarious Ron- you think Rauner had something to do with the good numbers. Man, that is a hoot. Even better is that you think that the numbers had something to do with Rauner fighting AFSCME and Madigan. Almost as good as listening to Trump or better yet, his supporters. Please keep it up. Illinois needs more laughter. - DGD - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:22 pm: ** Yet again, Minnesota appears to provide the best economic model to follow in the Midwest ** The average Minnesota family also pays twice as much in state income tax (or more), it can cost $400 year to register a vehicle, and housing costs are higher than all of illinois except Chicago. - Grandson of Man - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:45 pm: “The average Minnesota family also pays twice as much in state income tax (or more), it can cost $400 year to register a vehicle, and housing costs are higher than all of illinois except Chicago.” They apparently don’t mind. I haven’t seen anyone from Minnesota trash that state, unlike Rauner’s opportunistic trashing of Illinois. Rauner has had it pretty doggone good here, paying that very low state income tax for decades and copping that public employee pension business. To the post: I’m very happy to see that incomes are going up, and poverty is going down. There is an important national component to the economy, in which many states rise and fall together. - anon - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:51 pm: How does that median income increase compare to the ObamaCare increases. - Bill F. - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 1:57 pm: ==Seriously, I’ve wondered that. Who is it that is leaving Illinois? Who is staying?== Just check the Tribune. Apparently everyone who leaves gets 1,000 words in the “World’s Greatest Newspaper” to tell the world about it. - Demoralized - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:08 pm: ==Great job Governor! == This is data between 2014 and 2015. Rauner wasn’t the Governor yet. - benniefly2 - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 2:31 pm: “The average Minnesota family also pays twice as much in state income tax (or more), it can cost $400 year to register a vehicle, and housing costs are higher than all of illinois except Chicago.” That is true. By the same token, property taxes in Minnesota are about half as much as they are in Illinois on average, and the assessed value of my house is a lot more than my annual income. In my specific case, my property tax bill would go from approx $6500 in DuPage county to somewhere in the $3200 range if my townhouse were magically moved into Minneapolis tomorrow. Some of this stuff is a push in the end. People overall do pay a bit more in taxes in Minnesota, all things considered, though. - AC - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 4:29 pm: ==The average Minnesota family also pays twice as much in state income tax (or more), it can cost $400 year to register a vehicle, and housing costs are higher than all of illinois except Chicago.== With incomes $3,900 higher than Illinois, aren’t Minnesotans $3,500 ahead? Personally, I’m more concerned with maximizing my net income than minimizing the percentage of taxes I pay. Housing costs are driven by supply and demand. I’m not surprised that a state with higher job and income growth has higher housing costs. - Ron - Thursday, Sep 15, 16 @ 5:16 pm: Minnesota has higher housing because Illinois is generally undesirable. Without Chicago, Illinois would be Mississippi. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.