Progress Illinois

What communities are faring well in the 21st century economy? Swing State Project took a look at data from the Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey to find out which congressional districts have gained or lost the most in terms of income and poverty since 2000. Two Illinois districts are featured prominently in the data.

On the one end, only eight districts nationwide experienced more per capita income growth than Illinois' 7th District (above left), which covers downtown Chicago, parts of the South and West sides, and the near-western suburbs. Since 2000, income rose $10,368, from $25,329 to $35,697. 

A bit further south, the news isn't nearly as rosy. In Illinois' 2nd District (above right), which stretches from southeast Chicago through the south suburbs, income growth was virtually stagnant, jumping a mere $1,724 in seven years. In fact, only four congressional districts -- all of them in auto-dependent Michigan (two covering Detroit, one covering Flint, and one covering the city's northern suburbs) -- experienced less income growth nationwide.

What accounts for the income shifts? I'll level a few guesses. Between 2000 and 2007, the 7th District lost over 67,000 residents, the sixth biggest dip in the nation (and fifth if you exclude the displacement caused by Katrina). Chicago also added nearly 100,000 condos from 1989 to 2004 -- many of which are located downtown -- while losing roughly an equal number of apartment rentals. This trend undoubtedly continued through 2007. That means white professionals with greater incomes may be moving into the 7th while working class blacks and Latinos (either by choice or necessity) are heading out.

As for Jesse Jackson Jr.'s home turf, the continued disinvestment of capital obviously has an impact. But I'd guess some of the income drop can also be attributed to the ongoing white flight from the integrated south suburbs. The Sun-Times examined some new U.S. Census figures on August 8:

In both the city and suburbs, more whites are moving out than moving in, said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer who worked for 30 years at Loyola University Chicago. More whites also are dying in Cook County than being born here, he said.

"It's partially because a lot of the people of childbearing age leave Chicago or Cook County for the other suburbs," he said. "It's also because the white population in Cook County is older, so they have a fairly high mortality."

The relocation of public housing residents to the south suburbs through the Section 8 voucher program probably plays a factor as well, as might the growth in Latino residents, whose "household size," according to SSP, "tends to be larger than the rural white or black districts that have the lowest Median Household Incomes."