Property Buyouts in Illinois, 1993-2023

For the past 30 years, two state agencies have purchased over 4,000 flood-prone properties through buyout programs. This map plots nearly every property buyout from 1993 to 2023 through the state’s Emergency Management Agency and Department of Natural Resources. It does not include projects that have not been completed. The highest concentration of buyouts is in East St. Louis, with 572 properties to date.

Source: Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Data obtained by Illinois Answers from IDNR was cleaned and standardized, with some buyout locations crosschecked against county tax parcel data. A very small fraction of buyout data could not be matched to an address and were dropped from the graphic. Out of privacy concerns, addresses were excluded from the final dataset and the locations provided are approximate. Data cleaned by Cam Rodriguez. Map by Cesar Calderon. >