United Van Lines (UVL) issues an annual moving study based on their interstate shipments for household moves. This study provides a timely read on migration trends. We include their results in our “Data-Z” website, where you can easily create charts comparing states on hundreds of economic, demographic, and government financial data series.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to create charts on Data-Z, using the recently released UVL results for 2020 and comparing Illinois’s outbound shipments percentage for UVL to UVL’s results for Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
- Go to our Data-Z website.
- Hover over “Charts” in the top tab.
- Slide the pointer down to “Create Your Own State Chart,” and click on that.
- In “Step 1,” select Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa.
- In “Step 2,” scroll down to the “Demographic” section, and within the “Population” section, select “Outbound Shipments Percentage (United Van Lines)”
- Scroll all the way down to “Step 3 – Select Available Years.” Click on each year from 2005 to 2020 – this will give you a look at what happened in the 2007-2009 economic financial crisis, and what has happened since then – especially lately.
- Click on “Generate Chart,” and then change the Chart Type to a line chart.
You should end up with the chart below. That line at the top in the last decade is Illinois:
It’s not a pretty picture, at least for Illinoisans. The state with a state government (and its largest city government) in the worst financial condition (by far) among its neighboring states has been repelling more and more of its residents, and attracting fewer and fewer residents, leaving a greater financial burden for the citizens and taxpayers who remain.
You can also share charts you make on Data-Z with friends and family, either by clicking on the download button at the top right of the chart at Data-Z, or by clicking on “Share Your Chart” at the bottom, which generates a unique URL, like this one for the chart above.