Usually, paying the rent comes out of pocket – but Illinois is helping out with rent and utilities, plus other benefits for moving into two of its western Illinois cities.

Pittsfield and Jacksonville are offering a remote-work incentive close to $10,000 for people to move to their smaller-scaled cities, while keeping jobs to work remotely anywhere in the United States. 

Remote positions can vary from call center operators to customer service representatives, which means even if out of state residents are hired for a job out of state like a data analyst in New York, individuals can still reap the benefits of living in small town America. 

Who is offering the pay to live packages?

Make My Move, an online marketplace for moving with benefits based in Indiana, has been working to connect Illinois cities offering relocation bonuses to remote workers looking to lower their cost of living. 

Jacksonville

The incentive package to move to Jacksonville is roughly $9,300. The requirements for the move is earning at least $50,000 a year or more and living 70 miles currently outside of the Jacksonville Region, before applying. Approved applicants must move to Scott or Morgan County within half a year and spend a year in Jacksonville to receive the benefits.  

Scott and Morgan County’s combined population in 2023 sits at 37,000 according to Census.gov, with the town of Jacksonville in Morgan County, around a 38-minute drive from Springfield.

Pittsfield

Pittsfield is offering $5,000 for relocation with three free months of bundled communication and entertainment, utilities and a one year membership to Access Illinois Outdoors recreational events. 

Pittsfield requires full-time remote workers with a salary of $65,000 or more currently living at least 100 miles outside of the city of Pittsfield. Falling in Pike County, Pittsfield had a population of 4,120 with a median household income of $47,950 in 2022, and is over an hour drive away, around 70 miles, from Springfield.

More: New data shows nearly every Illinois county saw a decrease in population from 2020-2023

Why are smaller towns offering moving incentives?

Illinois lost 83,839 residents who moved to other states in 2023, making the state one of the highest rates of population loss in the U.S. for the 10th consecutive year in a row. Out of 102 Illinois counties counted in the 2023 Census report, seven saw growth: Brown County, Bureau County, Grundy County, Jo Daviess County, Kendall County, McHenry County and Will County. 

The Governor’s Rural Affairs Council 2022 Report attributes the decrease in rural populations to the reduced demand for farmers because of the mechanization of labor, decrease in birthrates and exodus migration caused by lack of job opportunities.

Smaller towns needing more residents to keep the population stable are capitalizing on the new age of remote work post-pandemic, when working from home was normalized, to relocate boundless digital workers to rural towns with lower costs of living. 

Local governments can offer relocation packages to attract newer residents, like Jacksonville who’s offering $5,000 in cash for relocation, $300 in chamber checks from the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and First National Bank of Arenzville and a myriad of utility benefits plus park passes and gift cards. 

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for the State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

Illinois basketball fans had an opportunity to watch one most well-rounded players when Coleman Hawkins was with the program.

The 6-foot-10 unicorn could do everything for the Illini. Hawkins didn’t settle either. Most players get to a certain point talent-wise, and they hit cruise control. Not Hawkins. He continued to improve.

Every season, Hawkins upped his scoring numbers. 1.4 points per game as a freshman, 5.9 points per game as a sophomore, 9.9 points per game as a junior, and he ended his Illinois career with 12.1 points per game.

On top of his great scoring ability, Hawkins’ efficiency in his final year was great as well. He shot 45.1% from the field, 36.9% from three-point range, and 79.2% from the free throw line. All were career highs.

Hawkins spent four great years with Illinois, which includes four NCAA tournament appearances, two trips to the round of 32 and an Elite 8 showing a couple of months ago.

This legendary career has the eyes of the NBA. Hawkins declared for the 2024 NBA Draft while keeping the option of heading back to college open by entering the transfer portal. He is currently going through the draft process and a recent projection as the Illini forward getting picked in June.

In the latest mock draft for the 2024 NBA Draft, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has Hawkins getting selected in the second round. With the No. 54 pick overall, the Boston Celtics are slated to pick the versatile big man.

This would be a great option for the Celtics. They are strong on the perimeter with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Derek White has emerged in the backcourt as well. I like Kristaps Porzingis, but he is injury-prone. Al Horford is also a great player, but he is getting up there in age. Hawkins could come into the franchise and learn from those two big men and eventually take over for them in the next couple of seasons.

I am rooting for Hawkins to do well during the NBA Draft process and to remain in the 2024 NBA Draft. There is also a chance Hawkins will come back to college.

As mentioned earlier, Hawkins has entered the transfer portal. If he decides to run it back in the college ranks and pull his name out of the mix, it is going to be chaos for Illini Nation.

Hawkins will have a bidding war. Illinois has the scholarship room to have him back for one more season, but the money could be an issue, as we have pulled in five transfer portal players. It is highly unlikely those five players were cheap.

On top of that, Arkansas seems to have some traction with potentially landing Hawkins if he comes back to college. There is a lot of smoke for the Razorbacks. They now have John Calipari as the head coach and the pockets seem to be awfully deep.

At the end of the day, there is always a worst-case scenario possible for Illinois fans. Hawkins could end up coming back to college and not playing for the Illini. That would be a painful one to see. Hopefully, he impresses the right people and stays in the NBA Draft.

Illinois basketball is going to sorely miss one of the best players in program history, as Terrence Shannon Jr. has departed the program.

Shannon spent five seasons in the college game, his final two in Champaign where he shined the brightest. He averaged 20.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game with the Illini, and he helped propel the program to an Elite 8 berth in 2024.

Now that Shannon is done in the college ranks, he is being compared with his peers. The NBA Draft is right around the corner, and there is work to be done to get selected in one of the two rounds.

In a recent 2024 NBA Mock Draft, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report put together a full two-round prediction. While Shannon isn’t projected to be a lottery pick, he doesn’t fall much past that top-11 status.

Wasserman’s mock draft has Shannon going at pick No. 17 to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans have this pick via the Los Angeles Lakers.

This would be an interesting pick for New Orleans. They are a forward-heavy team, so they need more guard play. CJ McCollum is a nice option in the backcourt and Trey Murphy III looked good in the playoffs, but the Pelicans need more guard options than that.

Shannon could come into the franchise and be a ball-dominant guard who can score at multiple levels. I feel like they don’t have that right now. McCullum and Murphy are more perimeter shooters, so having Shannon get downhill and to the basket would help New Orleans tremendously.

While Shannon is projected as a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, everything hinges on his trial coming up.

Shannon had his preliminary hearing on a charge of rape on May 10. In this hearing, the judge felt that there was enough for the case to go to a jury trial. This trial is set to start on June 10. The NBA Draft is on June 26-27.

Shannon is still going through the draft process. He sat down with the media on Tuesday for the first time since the allegations against him.

With the biggest moment of his professional life right around the corner, we are in a waiting game to see how his personal life plays out.