population

This has been and always will be a tricky state question. What is the smallest town in Illinois? It depends on who you ask, but there is an official answer and in Illinois, it's a tie between two tiny places that both have just 36 souls calling it home.

There's good news and bad news about a new population forecast for Illinois. The bad news is that the state is forecast to lose almost 400,000 residents in the next couple of decades. The good news is rentals should be easier to find.

The downtown area of cities used to be the fastest-growing places. Not so much anymore. That's definitely true of 3 Illinois downtown areas that were just ranked among the fastest shrinking places in America.

There is a narrative that the population of Illinois is shrinking. Don't tell that to one place in the Land of Lincoln that has an incredible growth rate of nearly 4,000 percent making it the fastest-growing area in Illinois.

I can't remember the year, but I recall that St. Louis used to be one of the 20 largest cities in America. Not anymore. How much has St. Louis shrunk? 70 cities in America now boast a larger population than the Gateway City.

I was born and raised in Missouri, but lived in California for awhile around 30 years ago so I have background in both states. Even having lived there for a bit, I was absolutely shocked when I saw the population difference between Missouri and just the Los Angeles area. You might be, too.

I was always under the impression that the population in Kansas City, Missouri has exploded upward in recent years. That perception is apparently wrong (partially) based on new data that shows parts of the city are actually shrinking.

Populations come and go as life happens, but one specific Illinois city is shrinking so fast one out of every ten residents has left in the past 5 years alone.

There is a reason why Missouri is known as "the Heartland" to many. It's right in the middle of America and that includes population, but that "center" is on the move meaning it might not always remain in Missouri as a new map shows.

If you've traveled around Rockford lately, it definitely seems like the Forest City has been taken over by literally thousands of wild turkeys.