12,078 tax returns (21,406 people including dependents) moved from Illinois to Texas in the 2022-2023 IRS migration year, carrying $1,247,177,000 in adjusted gross income.
Illinois to Austin is the winter move the Chicago tech and finance corridors have been running for a decade. Twenty-one thousand people, almost all Chicagoland. It is the most predictable move in the top ten and the one most likely to stick, because the movers arrive with realistic expectations and cold-weather trauma that makes the Austin summer look manageable by comparison.
Why this move happens
Winter and Illinois income tax. Illinois is a 4.95% flat-tax state and a $150K household owes about $7,400 a year. Chicago property tax on a $450K home is also real, typically $9,000 plus. The Chicago-to-Austin move is one of the rare cases where the dollar math actually looks bad on paper. Austin property tax is not meaningfully lower than Cook County's. But the winter-tax savings close the gap quickly and the quality of life swings the rest.
The math below is built for a typical two-person, one-house, one-car household clearing $150,000 gross. Your line items will move around. The Austin guide has a calculator you can run with your actual numbers; this page is the context the calculator cannot give you.
The money: Illinois vs. Austin, TX
Annual line items, $150K household, $450K home, one car. State averages, not quotes.
| Line item | Illinois | Austin, TX | Delta | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State + local income tax | $7,425 | $0 | $-7,425 | $150K household. Texas has no income tax. |
| Property tax | $9,090 | $8,100 | $-990 | $450K home. Effective rate 2.02% vs 1.80%. |
| Homeowners + auto insurance | $3,974 | $6,684 | +$2,710 | State-average full-coverage auto plus HO3 homeowners. |
| Utilities (electric + gas + water) | $3,540 | $3,540 | $0 | Monthly average multiplied by 12. |
| Sales tax (on $28K taxable spend) | $2,565 | $2,296 | $-269 | Combined state plus average local. |
| Annual total (these lines only) | $26,594 | $20,620 | $-5,974 |
On these five lines, the Austin move runs $5,974 cheaper per year than staying in Illinois. That ignores housing cost and a dozen smaller lines like HOA, childcare, and groceries.
Two warnings. Cheaper is not the same as "solves your problems." Most people who leave Austin in year two cite non-financial reasons. And Texas property tax compounds: on a house that appraises up for five straight years, your annual bill will not look like the closing document.
Housing: what Illinois money actually buys
This is the flattest housing delta in the top ten. Chicago and Austin are priced similarly on a per-square-foot basis for comparable quality central neighborhoods. The difference is the winter. There is no quantitative way to price a Chicago January against an Austin January, but everyone who makes this move knows the trade.
Where Illinois movers land professionally
The Chicago-to-Austin finance and tech pipeline is real and it is the quietest of the big three (LA, NYC, Chicago). Northwestern and Booth alumni networks in Austin are strong and underused by recent movers.
Common landing employers for Illinois movers
- Oracle
- Tesla
- finance moves into Austin's mid-market PE and VC scene
- Indeed
- Meta
- Dell
- startup-operator moves into cleantech and health-tech
Climate shock: what changes when you leave Illinois
Summer high average in Illinois: 84°F. In Austin: 96°F. Winter low: 18° vs. 42°. Annual snowfall: 36" vs. 0.6".
Illinois is brutal January and a short good summer. Austin is 100+ days above 90F. Winter mild but ice storms 1-2x/decade.. Visit in August before you sign anything, not in March when the weather is flattering the city.
You are trading a brutal five-month winter for a brutal four-month summer. On a calendar basis the miserable stretch is slightly shorter in Austin. On a health basis, the Austin summer heat is more exhausting than cold once you are past sixty. Plan for August trips north if you can.
Things Illinois movers do not expect
- The winter disappears. Your parkas, your boots, your ice-scraper kit all become yard-sale items within eighteen months.
- The food scene is different. Austin is excellent at barbecue and tacos and respectable at everything else. Chicago is deeper, broader, and more neighborhood-variegated.
- The drinking culture changes shape. Austin is a bar city but not a neighborhood-tavern city the way Chicago is. The corner bar on every corner is not the pattern.
- The public-transit assumption ends. Austin buses exist and are mediocre. The CTA L is not a product Austin offers. Plan for a car.
- The lakefront is gone. There is no equivalent. Lady Bird Lake is pretty but it is small and it is not the Great Lake.
The social rebuild
Chicago movers assimilate faster than most, partly because they arrive with realistic weather expectations and partly because Chicago's transplant-friendly social texture translates cleanly to Austin's. The Monday-night trivia, the running club, the neighborhood tavern. Those patterns transfer.
The regret pattern, if it comes
Chicago movers regret Austin at a lower rate than almost any other origin, but when they do, it is about the lake and the neighborhood density. Logan Square and Pilsen do not have direct Austin equivalents. The closest is probably East Austin around Cesar Chavez, but it reads thinner.
Return flow context
In the same year, 13,611 people moved from Texas back to Illinois. Roughly one person goes the other way for every 2 who make your move. That is the flow you are joining.
Return flow to Illinois is small and almost always family-driven. Chicago movers who leave Austin tend to go to Denver or Nashville, not back to the Midwest.
Five things a Illinois transplant wishes someone had told them
- Your Cook County property tax instincts are not wildly off. Austin is 2.0 to 2.3%. Budget the same.
- The UT Longhorn football tailgate is not the Bears game. Adjust your Sunday expectations.
- The lake you cannot replace can be partially replaced by Lake Austin or Lake Travis weekends. Book a boat share in year one.
- Airport hop: Austin-Bergstrom to Midway is a 2.5-hour direct. Keep the Chicago friends close and visit in July.
- The first ice storm tests the house. Know where your main water cutoff is before December.
The Illinois to Austin move, in four lines
- Volume. 21,406 people in a single tax year. This is a measurable wave.
- Net annual delta on five lines. $5,974 less per year for a $150K household. Housing is separate and usually larger.
- Climate. Summer is +12°F hotter than Illinois on average.
- Timeline. Eighteen to twenty-four months to feeling at home. Year one is mostly logistics.