* An absolutely ridiculous story from the Center Square…

Illinois has lost 549,000 people in the past decade when adding up the annual population estimates from the U.S. Census, prompting some to look for policy changes to reverse the trend.

The latest numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows Illinois’ 10th year of annual losses. In 2013, Illinois’ annual population estimate showed an increase of 12,700. The following year began the decade of decline. In 2014, the state lost an estimated 10,700. In 2015, that more than doubled to 25,000 lost in one year. Another 37,900 were estimated lost in 2016.

The losing trend continued in 2017 with Illinois having 41,800 fewer people than the prior year. In 2018, there were 55,200 fewer people, 57,700 fewer in 2019, 79,500 fewer in 2020, 100,000 fewer in 2021 and more than 107,800 fewer in 2022. For 2023, the U.S. Census shows Illinois lost an additional 32,800 for the year ending July 1, 2023.

Oh, for crying out loud.

* The actual 2010 Census full count showed Illinois had 12,830,632 people. The full 2020 Census count showed Illinois had 12,812,508. Therefore, on its face, those annual estimates were wildly wrong to the point of absurdity, even though they were loudly trumpeted every single year by the Illinois Policy Institute and its fellow travelers, including the Chicago Tribune editorial board.

And then, you’ll recall, this happened in 2022…

Following a review of 2020 U.S. Census Data, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today that Illinois was undercounted by nearly 2%. This means that Illinois’ population grew by nearly 250,000 people and is now above 13 million people for the first time in Illinois history.

* As you know, US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi has been pestering the US Census Bureau for nearly two years about its inane annual estimates. I sent Krishnamoorthi the Center Square story and asked for a response…

The Census Bureau’s latest population estimates (and the opportunistic bashing of our state) only raise the question of why the Census Bureau’s own analysis in 2022 found that its projections had been wrong, and Illinois’ population actually grew to a new high. We continue to be interested in the answers because until we can figure them out, we will be left without a proper accounting of what went wrong in the 2020 Census, and how Illinois can get a fairer share of federal resources.