GROCERIES & PRICES
34.2%
of Black households received SNAP.
This measures participation in the past 12 months, not grocery prices or food insecurity.
Census table B22005B← All states
IL · STATE COST GUIDE
What household costs look like in Illinois.
A closer look at four pressures affecting Black families and communities, using the same source and definitions in every state.
2024 ACS five-year estimates
ILLINOIS SNAPSHOT
Four measures of household pressure.
These numbers describe conditions among Black residents or Black households. They do not, by themselves, show why a number is high or low, and they are not estimates of the national policy changes described below.
RENT & HOUSING
44.5%
of Black households had housing costs over 30% of income.
Calculated among households with a reported cost-to-income ratio, renters and owners combined.
Census table B25140BHEALTH CARE
7.6%
of Black residents had no health coverage.
Includes children, working-age adults, and adults 65 and older in the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
Census table C27001BJOBS & WAGES
12.9%
of the Black civilian labor force was unemployed.
Calculated for residents age 16 and older who were working or actively looking for work.
Census table C23002BRead with care. The Census Bureau publishes margins of error with every estimate. Smaller populations can produce wider margins. Open each table for the full estimate, denominator, and margin of error.
WHAT POLICY CHANGES ARE AT ISSUE
Confirmed actions. Clear limits.
These are national policy changes with a documented mechanism or measured effect. Projections are labeled. None of these national findings proves a state-specific effect.
01GROCERIES & PRICES
ENACTED JULY 2025 · CBO PROJECTION, FEBRUARY 2026
SNAP rules reduce projected benefits and participation.
Public Law 119-21 expanded work requirements, restricted some state waivers, limited eligibility, capped increases in maximum benefits, and changed income deductions. The Congressional Budget Office projects these changes will reduce SNAP spending by $187 billion from 2025 through 2034 and reduce the number of people receiving benefits.
What this means: The law changes food-assistance rules nationwide. The projection is not a count of people affected in any one state.
MEASURED 2025 PRICE EFFECT · FEDERAL RESERVE ANALYSIS, MARCH 2026
Tariffs passed through to consumer prices.
Federal Reserve researchers found that prices for goods imported from China were 8.5% higher in December 2025 than a year earlier. They estimated that at least 30% of the 2025 tariff increase on those imports had passed through to retail prices.
Small-business lens: Tariffs can also raise the cost of imported supplies. Actual exposure varies by product and business. This guide does not estimate exposure for Black-owned firms in a particular state.
02HEALTH CARE
ENACTED JULY 2025 · CBO PROJECTION, FEBRUARY 2026
Medicaid financing, eligibility, and enrollment rules changed.
Public Law 119-21 changed Medicaid eligibility and enrollment processes, added a community-engagement requirement for certain adults, and changed how states can finance their programs. CBO projects the health provisions will reduce Medicaid enrollment by 12.9 million and increase the number of people without health insurance by 7.5 million in 2034.
Why BEA tracks it: Medicaid and marketplace coverage protect household finances as well as access to care. CBO’s figures are national projections against its January 2025 baseline, not current state enrollment losses.
03JOBS & WAGES
MEASURED 2025 EMPLOYMENT CHANGE · BLS AND OPM
Federal employment fell sharply in 2025.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that federal government employment fell by 274,000 in 2025, the largest calendar-year decline since 1946. An Office of Personnel Management report shows that Black employees made up 18.3% of the permanent, non-postal federal executive workforce as of September 30, 2025.
Important limit: The workforce composition figure does not show that 18.3% of the jobs lost were held by Black workers. Public data cited here do not establish the race of the people who left.
04HOUSING & FAIR ACCESS
FEDERAL POLICY CHANGES · JANUARY AND SEPTEMBER 2025
HUD withdrew a fair-housing planning rule and multiple guidance documents.
On January 16, 2025, HUD withdrew a proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule that would have restored a formal planning process and an enforcement mechanism for certain HUD program participants. In September 2025, HUD’s fair-housing office withdrew multiple guidance documents and said they should not be enforced or relied on while under review.
What did not change: The Fair Housing Act still prohibits housing discrimination, and HUD still accepts and investigates complaints. These federal policy changes do not establish an effect on rent or housing costs in any state.
THE CONNECTIVE THREAD
Work. Wages. Wealth.
What families spend on food, housing, and health care affects what remains to save or invest. Jobs and small-business conditions affect income and ownership. This guide uses generational wealth as a lens, not as a claim that one policy determines any family’s outcome.