Illinois Paystub Generator

Reading an Illinois pay stub, line by line

An Illinois pay stub has exactly four involuntary deductions, and the state one is a single flat rate that the Illinois Constitution forbids from ever becoming graduated. Here is what each line means in 2026:

IL State Income Tax ("IL SIT", "Illinois Withholding"). Illinois taxes wages at a flat 4.95% — the same rate since July 2017 — after a $2,925 exemption for each allowance you claim on Line 1 of Form IL-W-4 (2026 amount; it was $2,850 in 2025). Employees 65 or older or legally blind get another $1,000 per Line 2 allowance. The Department of Revenue's formula is simple enough to check on a calculator: 4.95% × (wages − allowances ÷ pay periods). IDOR's own worked example: $800 a week with two basic and two additional allowances → $32.13 withheld. Because it's flat, a raise never pushes you into a higher state bracket — Article IX, §3 of the state constitution requires a "non-graduated rate".

What you will NOT see: a Chicago or Cook County income tax (Illinois home-rule cities have no power to tax income — Chicago's 22-item tax list contains none), state disability insurance, a paid-family-leave premium (Illinois is not among the 13 states with a payroll-funded program; the Paid Leave for All Workers Act is employer-provided time off), or an unemployment deduction — 820 ILCS 405/1600 voids any wage deduction an employer takes to fund UI.

Plus the federal lines on every US stub: federal income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to $184,500 in 2026), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% on wages over $200,000). At the state median wage ($51,960), Illinois tax with one allowance is $2,427 a year — about $93 per biweekly check.

Illinois paycheck facts — 2026

What you actually take home in Illinois (2026 estimates)

Estimated for a single filer taking the standard deduction, including federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and Illinois income tax at 4.95% after one $2,925 exemption allowance:

Where the money goes at $60,000: Illinois income tax $2,825 (4.7% of gross) — the whole state bite, since there are no program deductions. Federal income tax and FICA take the other 16%. The flat rate means the state share barely moves as a percentage: 4.6% at $40,000, 4.8% at $100,000.

Chicago vs. the state minimum: a full-time worker at Chicago's $17.05 nets about $3,400 more a year than one at the state's $15.00 in Peoria — and neither pays a city tax, because Illinois has none.

Methodology: 2026 federal brackets and $16,100 standard deduction (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32), FICA per SSA, Illinois flat 4.95% (Illinois Department of Revenue income tax rate page) after the 2026 $2,925 exemption allowance (Booklet IL-700-T, effective January 1, 2026). Estimates only — your withholding depends on your W-4/IL-W-4 allowances, credits, and pre-tax benefits.

What Illinois jobs pay (BLS, May 2025)

Illinois's median hourly wage across all occupations is $24.98 — a shade above the national median of $24.51. Union density shows in the trades: an Illinois construction laborer's $29.18 median beats California ($28.98) and is $8 an hour more than in North Carolina.

Illinois's workforce in numbers

• 12.7 million residents, civilian labor force of 6.5 million, unemployment 4.9% (Census 2025 estimate; BLS, July 2026 preliminary)
• 1,120,413 self-employed (nonemployer) businesses (Census, 2023) — 3.7% of all US nonemployers, 933,599 of them sole proprietors with no employer pay stub
• 5.7 million people on employer payrolls at 322,415 establishments — 57% of which have fewer than five employees — earning $410 billion a year (Census County Business Patterns, 2023)
• Mean annual wage: $71,130 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)

Illinois pay rules — the answers people actually need

Final paycheck: next regular payday, whether you quit or were fired — and it must include earned, unused vacation. The Wage Payment and Collection Act (820 ILCS 115/5) says final compensation is due at separation if possible and in no case later than the next regularly scheduled payday; the Department of Labor's FAQ lists "bonus payments, vacation pay, wages and commissions" as all part of it. Severance and sick-pay balances are owed only if a contract or policy promises them.

Pay frequency: at least semimonthly, with wages paid no later than 13 days after the pay period ends (820 ILCS 115/3). Executive, administrative, and professional employees — and commissions — may be paid monthly.

Is a pay stub required? Yes, by statute. Since January 1, 2025 (Public Act 103-0953), every Illinois employer must give a pay stub each pay period showing hours worked, pay rates, overtime pay, and deductions, and must keep copies for three years — with a right for current and former employees to request copies. Before that, the law required only an itemized statement of deductions. If you've lost old stubs for a mortgage or lease application, your employer is obligated to have them.

Deductions need your written consent unless required by law or a collective bargaining agreement. Wage claims go to the IDOL Fair Labor Standards Division.

Three minimum wages in one metro: Illinois, Cook County, Chicago (2026)

Illinois reached $15.00 on January 1, 2025 — the seventh and final step of the 2019 law — and nothing further is scheduled at the state level. But two local ordinances keep climbing every July 1, so the rate depends on which side of a municipal line you work:

Illinois workers under 18 who work fewer than 650 hours a year may be paid $13.00 statewide. Chicago's tipped wage sits at 76% of the full rate under the One Fair Wage Compromise Ordinance and will not move again until July 2028, when tipped workers step up toward the full minimum. Many Cook County suburbs have opted out of the county ordinance, so check the county's current list before assuming $15.40 applies.

None of the three jurisdictions levies an income tax — a Chicago stub carries the same four deductions as one from Springfield.

How Illinois compares with its neighbors (take-home on $60,000, 2026 est.)

Illinois's $2,925 exemption is small next to the standard deductions its neighbors allow, which is why a flat 4.95% ends up costing a $60,000 earner more than Wisconsin's graduated 3.5%–5.3% brackets or Missouri's 4.7% top rate. Residents of Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, and Wisconsin who work in Illinois are covered by reciprocal agreements: file Form IL-W-5-NR and the Illinois line is replaced by home-state withholding.

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