DECATUR — The mass of people leaving Illinois could soon add up to another loss — one of the state’s 18 seats in the U.S. House.
The exodus dropped Illinois from the fifth-most populated state to the sixth in December, based on U.S. Census data showing that 33,703 moved out between July 2016 and July 2017.
Combined with growth in the southern and western parts of the country, that makes Illinois one of nine states tracking to give up a seat after the 2020 census, according to a December study by Virginia-based Election Data Services.
There’s an outside chance the state could even lose two congressional seats.
Source: State Journal-Register