The cost of living in Illinois is pushing people to move to the Badger State of Wisconsin.

Records show that nearly 3,000 people are moving to Wisconsin every year. A news crew met with a couple who shared why they moved to Shorewood after living in Chicago for 20 years.

“I was firmly set on staying in Chicago,” said Doug Sichmeller.

What Doug didn’t realize is that his wife was devising a plan to move back to Wisconsin for the past five years.

“We pulled up in front of a realtor’s office and she was like ‘I want to maybe look at some homes up here,'” said Doug.

“I grew up in New Glarus, it’s a very small town. I loved everything about it and I wanted that for my kids,” said Katie Sichmeller.

And she’s not alone. A Marquette Law School study found from census data that of the nearly 3,000 people who are coming to Wisconsin from the Chicago metro area every year, about half of them are coming from Cook County and the other half are coming from the other five surrounding counties.

“I wanted to make sure you got this house!” said Suzanne Powers of Powers Realty to the couple.

Powers is also taking notice. Chicagoland people are the second highest location for web traffic on their listing site. The city with the most clicks is the North Shore of Milwaukee and Wauwatosa.

“You do get a lot of bang for your buck,” said Powers. “They’re telling me they like the fact that they can get to their kids play in the afternoon, that the commute to downtown is just 10 minutes.”

Katie says she was shocked at the difference in price.

“You can get so much more for your money up here,” she said.

Along with finding the home of their dreams, they’re no longer planning on paying for private school for their two boys. Not only that, but the price of gas and groceries are also included in that savings.

Chicago sales tax right now is 10.25 percent, whereas in Milwaukee, it’s only 5.6 percent. Doug says there is no price that could replace the extra time that he now gets with his family.