CHICAGO (WLS) — The number of people leaving the Chicago area continues to grow, according to new data analyzed by I-Team.
People seem to talk about it all the time: Why are so many people leaving the Chicago area?
I am very happy with my move to Georgia. It's been six months now and I'm very relaxed here, said Deborah Moore.
Moore was born and raised in Auburn Gresham, but has recently become part of a trend of residents moving away from the Chicago Metro Area. His new home is outside Atlanta, Georgia.
“Besides having my family here, I want to relax, I want to have time for myself. I want to reduce the burden of living expenses,” he said.
The ABC Data team tracked relocation trends by analyzing United States Postal Service address change forms. They found that over the last five years, more people left the Chicago metro area, which includes the suburbs of Naperville and Elgin, than moved, a net loss of at least 294,000 people. Only New York City and San Francisco experienced larger population declines.
“A lot of these decisions to move were not made on purpose. Chicago lost a lot of working-class and blue-collar jobs,” said Iván Arenas of UIC's Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy.
A The MacArthur Foundation/UIC data report analyzes population trends in the Chicago Metro also found that a lack of racial and economic equality and a lack of affordable loans had led people to move outside the region.
Florida and Texas are top destinations. Black residents mostly headed to Georgia.
“The Black community's rent burden, for example, is very high. They pay more than 30% of their income in rent,” Arenas said.
Moore's former Auburn Gresham neighborhood has been especially hard hit, having lost most of its residents in recent years: 17,000 black residents from 1990 to 2020. About a third have left in the past 10 years.
“As we speak, there's about $170 million of development, construction and investment going on within a two-and-a-half-three block radius,” said Carlos Nelson, CEO of Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation who wants to reverse that trend.
After winning more than $20 million in financial prizes from a Chicago community investment initiative, they developed the Health and Wellness Campus at 79th and Halsted. The once vacant building has been converted into a Healthy Lifestyle Center offering free legal, housing and aged care services. It has a bank, space for local business sellers and a farmer's market.
Auburn Gresham resident Flora Arnold appreciates fresh produce.
“We need to do more to keep your community together and with this market and the clinic it really helps,” he said.
Surrounding the Hub will be two affordable housing developments with retail space, an upgraded Save-a-Lot grocery store, a nine-acre Urban Farming Campus, and a community-owned Metra station. This project provides resources for the environment and employment opportunities.
“It's a great place, a great opportunity to get a decent job, buy a good stock of housing, a great opportunity to grow your family,” said Nelson.
Moore stayed down south, but he was also pleased to learn his old neighborhood was being revitalized.
“This is what society really needs,” he said.
Another study showed that Cook County lost 68,000 people between July 2021 and July 2022, according to recent US Census estimates. Only Los Angeles County in California experienced a larger population decline.