People Are Leaving Illinois in Record Numbers and Here's Why

[00:00:00]Thousands of people are suddenly fleeing Illinois. And here's the first and simplest reason for that. High taxes.

[00:00:07]Look at that map again. It tells a different, much darker story. They're running from the water. Geographical data comes in handy as over the last few decades, this state has quietly shifted its entire climate profile. Now, it's becoming extremely wet. Annual precipitation just jumped by a massive 15%. We're not talking here about a light drizzle. Extreme rainfall, even brutal storms causing 2 in increase of water in a matter of hours spike by almost 40%.

[00:00:42]The people of Illinois are being accustomed to flash floods as [music] it's normal nowadays.

[00:00:49]Another factor which is mixing with severe weather is a 19th century concrete grid. Chicago is aging badly and crumbling sewer systems can't handle this volume of water. The city was originally built on a swamp and it all leads to turn this place into a [music] swamp again.

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[00:01:13]Flash floods are often drowning entire [music] neighborhoods and local agriculture outside the city are devastated. People are losing basement and crops. Just a single urban flood in the summer of 2023 caused nearly half a billion dollars in damages. Sounds dreadful, but on the other hand, the ultimate twist is happening at the same time. [music] The ground is flooding, but the real estate market is growing like crazy.

[00:01:39]It's not about fancy, luxurious apartments in the city [music] center.

[00:01:43]Pure land is much more valuable, especially for big tech. They're quietly buying up huge amounts of land to build server farms on them. A massive power grid for this state is crucial for them as they desperately need those massive amounts of electricity to run their servers day and night. [music] The sad story is that those mega projects are driving local real estate prices to be unaffordable for normal families.

[00:02:10][music] It's pure Illinois paradox. On [music] one side, we have failing flooded infrastructure and massive damage. On the other side, big companies and data centers pricing out whatever dry land is actually left. Result, the map of this state is literally being redrawn by extreme weather and big tech right before our eyes. According to the United Nations, [music] India became the most populous country in the world in 2023. Can you guess where the United States of [music] America stands in that rating? It's number three. And America is the fourth [music] largest country in terms of size.

[00:02:54]It takes up some 6% of Earth's land mass. Plenty of space for 335 million people who live there, right?

[00:03:03]No need to squeeze them into one region.

[00:03:05]Well, not quite. The population of the US is distributed [music] pretty unevenly.

[00:03:12]Let's draw a line right through the middle of the country. It'll run from North Dakota in the north to Texas in the south. Once you input census data and do some math, astounding figures appear. 80% of the US population lives east of the imaginary line. The remaining 20% [music] live to the west.

[00:03:32]That's just one in five Americans.

[00:03:35]We're talking about large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. You don't believe me?

[00:03:43]Just look at a satellite map of the US at night. The right part is shining pretty bright, right? But why? Why is there such a huge imbalance in population?

[00:03:55]Simply put, history and [music] geography. The East Coast is the place where the US became independent in [music] 1776.

[00:04:04]These are the original 13 colonies. Soon enough, settlers started spreading westward. One important milestone was the Louisiana Purchase. Today, this region is mostly what [music] we call the Midwest. The area aligns nicely with the Mississippi watershed. Yep, this means plenty of fertile soil, ideal for agriculture.

[00:04:25]But does this automatically mean a spike in population?

[00:04:30]The demographics of the US reveal that a majority of [music] its citizens live either on the east or the west coast.

[00:04:37]This leaves a large patch of land in the middle of the country [music] virtually empty. People know it as America's underpopulated belt. The area stretches from the Canadian border in the north to Mexico in the south.

[00:04:51]The total surface area of this strip of land is 350,000 square miles. That's twice the size of California.

[00:05:00]one massive piece of land. In fact, this narrow strip accounts for [music] 12% of the contiguous United States. That's the US without Alaska and Hawaii. The belt runs north to south through seven states. But its population makes up only 1% [music] of the total number of people living in the United States. Now, this doesn't mean that the area is completely empty. It's still home to just over 3 million people. [music] That's roughly the population of the island country of Jamaica. But there is room here for many more residents.

[00:05:33]Let's take the example of Nigeria. Its total land area is slightly bigger than the sparsely inhabited belt in America.

[00:05:42]But Nigeria's population is a huge 206 million people. This makes it the seventh most populated country on the planet. Impressive, right? But why isn't the American Midwest living up to its potential?

[00:05:57]Well, time for one last history lesson.

[00:05:59]I've already mentioned how the United States expanded from the east coast to the west coast. This doesn't mean that the West was lagging too far behind.

[00:06:07]Take for example the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. They were incorporated in 1850. That's just 13 years after Chicago.

[00:06:16]The following year, Portland, Oregon became incorporated. You get the picture. And then in 1869, the United States completed building its first transcontinental railroad. In terms of transport, the country was unified.

[00:06:31]There is [music] no historical reason strong enough to explain why so few people live in the center of the country.

[00:06:39]So now it's time for some interesting geography. If you look at the physical map of the United States, you'll notice that this belt lies in the Great Plains.

[00:06:48]As the name suggests, the area is flat, which should be ideal for large settlements. Well, not really.

[00:06:55]East of this region, there is a huge patch of the color brown. It's covered by mountains, but not just any mountains. These are the Rockies. The range is around 76 million years old. It has several peaks over 14,000 ft. And most of the Rockies are national parks, a vast nature reserve. But most importantly, the range plays a vital role in the region's climate.

[00:07:21]Ever heard of the rain shadow effect?

[00:07:23]Let me explain. Wet weather systems form over the Pacific Ocean. Then they travel east where they meet the Rockies. Now the air has to go up over the mountains.

[00:07:32]This is where it cools down and condenses. The final result, a lot of rain and snow for the people living on or west of the range.

[00:07:42]and just a few drops east of it. When air from the Pacific finally reaches the Great Plains, it doesn't contain much moisture anymore. In fact, the weather system starts taking up moisture from the surrounding landscape.

[00:07:56]This creates an aid climate east of the Rocky Mountains. That's the exact location of the belt where so few Americans live. It's one of the driest parts of the country. So when settlers came in the 19th century, they were like, "Nah, I'll just continue west."

[00:08:13]Plus, there was the gold rush in California they were heading for. The climate in this part of the plains isn't great for agriculture, and huge fluctuations in air temperature don't help either. In a single day, temperatures can drop from 70 to 30° F.

[00:08:29]These sudden changes in outside temperature are harmful to human health.

[00:08:33]It's like stepping inside an air conditioned room on a sizzling summer day. Not a pleasant feeling. Southern California has [music] a similarly dry climate. Yet close to 40 million people live there. This makes California the most populous US state. Their secret? A vast network of irrigation canals and aqueducts, plus a share of water from the Colorado River.

[00:08:57]Summers in the Great Plains get very hot, while winters are extremely cold.

[00:09:01]The reason behind these wild weather patterns are polar winds. They get a piggyback ride along the ridges of the Rockies and then rapidly descend into the plains.

[00:09:12]A winter day in Wyoming, for example, can start pleasantly warm. But later in the afternoon, the temperature can easily drop below zero. You just wouldn't know how to dress, and you probably wouldn't want to relocate here.

[00:09:26]That's what 99% of Americans think, too.

[00:09:30]Humans like to feel comfortable, so we choose [music] to live in temperate climate zones. Places that are either too cold or too hot don't have a large population.

[00:09:41]Just look at the driest inhabited continent. You've guessed it correctly.

[00:09:45]It's Australia.

[00:09:46]Nearly 70% of the country is either arid or semi-arid.

[00:09:51]That's a subtle way of saying that it's a desert. That's why Australians are huddled in coastal areas. 90% of them live in big cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.

[00:10:04]The only exception is the capital, Canberra. They build it inland close to a water source. But Australia's interior is sparssely populated, just like in the States. There is only one major town in an area the size of 12 Lake Michigan. A huge shout out to the residents of Alice Springs. They truly live in an oasis.

[00:10:26]And what about places with a temperate climate like Europe? The population is evenly distributed here, right? Well, yes and no, depending on the country.

[00:10:36]In Germany, 77% of people live in urban areas. They have plenty of major cities to choose from. Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, and Kung all have over a million residents. But let's look at neighboring France. How many cities with a population over a million can you name?

[00:10:55]Okay, Paris [music] definitely.

[00:10:58]It has over 12 million residents in the metropolitan area. But now comes the staggering fact. The next two cities on the list have a population of barely 2 million respectively.

[00:11:10]Can you notice the huge imbalance? This is the case in most large European countries. In Greece, for example, 35% of the population lives in the capital, Athens. [music] So, the largely underpopulated center of the United States is not a unique example. America is the land of opportunities, but chances of finding a better life are greater in large cities.

[00:11:35]The country's top 100 metropolitan areas account for at least 3/4 of the nation's GDP, and most of them are located on the east and the west coast. There are no cities with over a million residents in America's underpopulated belt.

[00:11:53]Canada is massive, but almost everyone lives in the east or the west. And right in the middle, there is this huge stretch of land where hardly anyone calls home. Northern Ontario. So, why does this place almost feel off limits?

[00:12:10]Northern Ontario is part of, well, Ontario. It's a super busy province, home to major cities like Toronto and Ottawa. About onethird of all Canadians live there, but most of them are down in the southern part of the province, not up north. But that doesn't really add up when you [music] think about it, because the northern part is way, way bigger.

[00:12:31]We're talking about a region that is more than 300,000 square miles, pretty much the same size as the whole country of Turkey.

[00:12:40]Northern Ontario takes up about 87% of the entire province. But strangely, only about 6% of Ontario's population lives in this area. But before you start dreaming about moving there for some peace and quiet, hold on. There are four [music] big reasons people choose not to. And honestly, you'll probably agree.

[00:13:02]H >> reason number one, the land itself. Look up the region on Google Earth and all you will see is a huge stretch of empty space. [music] Nothing special at first glance, but zoom in and that's when things start getting complicated.

[00:13:17]Northern Ontario is famous for its rugged, remote landscapes, full of endless forests and lakes. It's beautiful to look at or snap a photo of, but living there is a whole different story. The geography makes the area tough to get around and makes it hard to build things like transportation routes and railways. [music] And since it's so difficult to put decent roads up there, the whole region stays pretty isolated. That takes us to reason number two, [music] remoteness.

[00:13:46]You might think that being in the center of the country, it could serve as a great link between the [music] eastern and western parts of Canada, but in reality, that's not how it works. And the region is very far from Canada's major cities.

[00:14:00]Take Greater Sudbury, the largest city in Northern Ontario with around 160,000 people. The closest major city is [music] Toronto, which is about 230 mi away. So yeah, that's roughly a 4-hour drive just to get there.

[00:14:16]If you're planning a holiday weekend in a big dynamic city, a 4-hour drive sounds like a fun road trip. But if you need to go for a dental appointment or sort out paperwork, that distance suddenly feels endless. Not to mention the cost. Unfortunately, that's how life is for many people up there. Residents of Northern Ontario don't have easy access to opportunities or services.

[00:14:39][music] With so few people scattered across such a huge area, the region doesn't have enough facilities, infrastructure, [music] or easy access to essential services like healthcare and education. People there sometimes have to deal with poor or even non-existent infrastructure like missing roads, airports, hospitals, and schools. Without those things, settling down is really tough. And in rural areas, it's even worse because the lack of services can seriously hurt their quality of life. Psychologically speaking, that's not great either.

[00:15:14][music] People can end up feeling isolated and lonely, and the freezing weather doesn't help. Which brings us to reason number [music] three why most people don't live in northern Ontario.

[00:15:24]The harsh climate. If you're not a fan of cold weather, you should definitely leave this region off your travel bucket list. Winters up there can be long and brutal with temperatures sometimes dropping as low as 40° below 0 F. Have you ever tried shoveling snow when it's this cold? Yeah, it's not exactly fun.

[00:15:46]That kind of harsh weather doesn't just mess up [music] your weekend plans or your daily jog. It also makes transportation a huge challenge. The result [music] is that many residents end up isolated from essential services and job opportunities. And it's also really hard to build infrastructure, [music] grow industries, or run businesses because of that harsh climate. Take farming [music] for example. Compared to southern Ontario, the northern region has a shorter growing season and much colder weather.

[00:16:17]Although crops like oats, potatoes, and green beans can handle the cold, the climate usually limits the variety of things that can be grown. That's why most farms are concentrated in the southern part of the province and in other parts of the country like the prairies and Quebec.

[00:16:33]Anyway, that's just one example of how the climate makes [music] it tough for people to build a strong foundation to support themselves. And that's exactly the fourth reason why northern Ontario is so empty. the economy. It's not that there aren't any jobs available. In fact, there are [music] plenty. In 2023, the northern part of Ontario had some of the highest job vacancy rates in the country. [music] So, unlike in many parts of the world, it's a place where they have tons of jobs available, but no people to fill them. One reason people [music] don't take those jobs is that many of them are older. Just look at Elliot Lake, for example. 42% [music] of the people living in the city are over 65 years old. That's the third highest concentration of older adults anywhere in Canada. But it's not [music] all that different in the rest of the region either. Estimates show that by 2036, people aged 65 and older will make up almost 30% of Northern Ontario's total population. And you see what happens when they hit 65, right?

[00:17:36]They've got their pensions [music] and going back to work just isn't on the radar.

[00:17:42]This problem only gets worse because young people just don't seem interested in living there. Every year, lots of students around [music] 17 or 18 years old pack their bags and either drive across the province or fly across the country to study somewhere away from their northern homes. [music] And many of them don't come back. But that's actually pretty strange considering the [music] region does have a strong economy, especially in mining. Take the Red Lake area for example. It's packed with gold. In fact, it's home to one of the richest gold [music] deposits in the world and has already turned out over 30 million ounces of the metal. That's definitely helped Canada stay ranked among the top five [music] gold producing countries in the world. Then there's this region known as the Ring of Fire. It's centered around McFall's Lake in the Canora [music] district and covers about 1,900 square miles. It's rich in valuable minerals like chromite, cobalt, [music] nickel, copper, and platinum.

[00:18:44]These days, Northern Ontario's mining industry is making a big comeback [music] and attracting new investments.

[00:18:50]That's happening because the world is suddenly desperately looking for critical minerals. By that I mean [music] essential elements used in modern technologies like smartphones and renewable energy systems. Minerals like cobalt, nickel, [music] and copper are especially important for making the batteries that power electric cars, for example.

[00:19:10]So right now it seems like the whole mining scene in the region is doing pretty well, but the industry has gone through plenty of ups and downs with fluctuations and periods of decline.

[00:19:20][music] And that combined with the possible lack of variety and jobs outside the mining industry [music] means people are more likely to leave the region in search of better opportunities.

[00:19:31]Interestingly though, mining companies are now struggling to find enough skilled workers in Northern Ontario.

[00:19:37][music] And that's probably because of all the reasons we've already talked about. An older population, harsh weather, tough geography, [music] and a long distance from major urban centers.

[00:19:48]So, it's basically a cycle. and local authorities [music] are trying to break out of it by improving infrastructure in the region, offering more incentives, and finding ways to keep young workers from leaving. Some of their strategies include offering cash rewards to people who refer healthare workers for job openings or providing tax-free payments to help cover higher home energy costs.

[00:20:10]And there are plenty of other initiatives, too. [music] So, yeah, with strategies like these, it's definitely possible to grow the population there. And who knows, maybe one day this region could be bustling with people. That's it for today. So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends. Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright