Quote:
Originally Posted by Sun Belt
Illinois had the largest decline.
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i can't really speak for chicagoland (which is arguably in a different region entirely than outstate illinois), but im very familiar with outstate illinois south of I-80, and it's sort of like one huge rustbelt city spread out. tons of small cities (including but often smaller than the decaturs, etc) that had one or two huge factories that closed, resulting in a decades long downward spiral. unlike larger regions, theres literally no where else to work...so you have all of these towns that have thousands more people than the local economy can support at middle class levels...and tourism is by and large non-existent compared to say michigan or wisconsin.