The local economy of Illinois and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data.
Unemployment rate
4.7%
August 2026, 4.3% a year ago
Average weekly pay
$1,731
Q1 2026, 5,992,382 jobs
New homes permitted
19,157
Last 12 months to August 2026
Net people moving in
-55,609
2022 to 2023
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for its history.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for Illinois, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for Illinois is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row.
The unemployment rate in Illinois was 4.7% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 4.3% a year earlier. 6,170,228 people were employed out of a labor force of 6,477,009. Among its counties, Monroe County had the lowest rate (2.5%) and Edwards County the highest (7.0%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in Illinois was $1,731 in Q1 2026, up 4.1% from a year earlier, across 5,992,382 jobs at 389,406 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 2,266 new homes in Illinois in August 2026 (962 single-family and 1,132 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 13,369, up 1.3% from the same months last year, and 19,157 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Cook County (4,929), Kane County (2,080), Champaign County (1,903) over the last 12 months.
No, more people moved out than in. From 2022 to 2023, 183,451 people moved to Illinois and 239,060 moved away, a net loss of 55,609 (-5.5 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from Indiana, Florida, California, and most people who left went to Florida, Indiana, Texas.
The weekly survey does not publish a separate price for Illinois. In its region, Midwest, regular gasoline averaged $4.29 per gallon in the week of September 28, 2026.