Illinois minimum wage 2026: state, Chicago and Cook County rates

The Illinois minimum wage is $15.00 an hour in 2026. It has been there since January 1, 2025, the final step of the 2019 Lifting Up Illinois Working Families Act, and nothing in state law raises it on January 1, 2027. That makes the minimum wage in Illinois simpler than in indexed states like California or Michigan, but only outside Cook County. Chicago and the suburban part of Cook County each run their own ordinance, adjust every July 1, and have different tipped rates. This guide gives every rate with its source, worked pay examples, the state rules on overtime, breaks, paid leave and paydays that go with the wage, and a checklist for employers.

Illinois minimum wage 2026 and the outlook for 2027

The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) states on its minimum wage law page that the law “guarantees a minimum wage of $15.00 per hour for workers 18 years of age and older.” Its minimum wage FAQ dates the rate: “Beginning January 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Illinois is $15.00 per hour for those individuals who are 18 years and older.” The law covers employers with four or more employees, not counting the employer’s immediate family, and covers domestic workers even when the employer has only one.

Illinois minimum wage 2027. Unlike many states, Illinois does not adjust its minimum wage for inflation each year. The 2019 law set a fixed schedule of raises that ended at $15.00 in 2025, so the rate stays at $15.00 until the General Assembly passes a new law. Bills to raise or index the rate were filed in the 2026 session, but as of November 12, 2026, none has become law and IDOL has announced no change for January 1, 2027. If that changes, IDOL will post the new rate on its minimum wage page and update the required poster. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 is lower than every rate in this article, so it never applies to an Illinois employee covered by the state law.

For a side-by-side with every other state, including the January 1, 2027 increases that have been announced elsewhere, see our minimum wage by state table.

Weekly and annual pay examples at the minimum wage in Illinois

These are gross figures before taxes for a non-exempt hourly employee. The annual column assumes 52 paid weeks.

Example with overtime. Suppose Prairie Bakehouse, an illustrative bakery in Springfield, has a counter employee at the state minimum who works 46 hours in one workweek. Illinois follows the federal rule: time and a half for every hour over 40 in the workweek, so 6 hours are overtime at $22.50 ($15.00 × 1.5).

1. Regular pay: 40 hours × $15.00 = $600.00.
2. Overtime pay: 6 hours × $22.50 = $135.00.
3. Total for the week: $600.00 + $135.00 = $735.00.

The same 46-hour week at a Chicago location pays 40 × $17.05 = $682.00 plus 6 × $25.575 ($17.05 × 1.5) = $153.45, for $835.45. If the employee also earns a shift premium or a production bonus, those go into the regular rate before you multiply by 1.5; our how to calculate overtime guide walks through the math, and the shift differential guide covers night and weekend premiums.

Example with tips. A server in Peoria works 30 hours and is paid the $9.00 tipped rate: $270.00 in cash wages. Over those hours the server must end up with at least 30 × $15.00 = $450.00, so tips need to cover $180.00 ($6.00 an hour). If tips come to only $150.00 that week, the employer adds $30.00 to the paycheck.

Illinois minimum wage history, 2020 to 2025

Illinois sat at $8.25 from 2010 until the 2019 law took effect. The schedule below is the one written into that law (Public Act 101-0001), as summarized at the time by employment law firms and as published by IDOL for the later years. The tipped column is 60% of the standard rate each year, and the youth column is the rate for employees under 18 working fewer than 650 hours in the year.

The same law gave IDOL the power to run random audits and raised the penalty for underpayment to treble damages plus 5% of the underpaid amount for each month it stays unpaid. Keep the hourly records that prove the rate you paid: the FLSA requires three years of payroll records and two years of time cards, and Illinois wage claims can be filed up to one year after the pay was due.

Tipped minimum wage in Illinois and the tip credit

Illinois allows a tip credit. IDOL’s FAQ says an employer “may take credit for the employee’s tips in an amount not to exceed 40% of the wages,” which is why the tipped cash wage is 60% of the full rate: $9.00 an hour at the $15.00 minimum. The rules that go with it:

• Make-up pay. The state poster puts it plainly: “If an employee’s tips combined with the wages from the employer do not equal the minimum wage, the employer must make up the difference.” Track tips by shift so the check is easy.
• Overtime for tipped staff. Overtime is 1.5 times the full minimum wage, not the cash wage. At the state rate that is $22.50 an hour, from which you may still take the $6.00 tip credit, so the cash overtime rate is at least $16.50.
• Tipped training wage. IDOL allows a training wage of $9.00 for tipped employees 18 and over for their first 90 days when the tip credit is used, which is the same as the regular tipped rate, so in practice there is no lower tipped rate for new hires.
• Local rates are higher. Cook County’s tipped rate is $9.25 and Chicago’s is $12.96 from July 1, 2026, and Chicago is shrinking its tip credit toward zero (details below).

Youth wage and training wage

Under 18. IDOL’s FAQ: “Those under 18 years of age may be paid at the rate of $13.00 per hour for less than 650 hours worked.” The 650 hours are counted per calendar year with that employer. Once a minor passes 650 hours in the year, you must pay at least $15.00 for the rest of that year. A student working 12 hours a week for 52 weeks reaches 624 hours and stays under the cap; one working 15 hours a week crosses it in week 44. A time clock that totals hours by employee for the year, like the one in Workzenly’s time clock app, makes the switch date obvious. Chicago does not allow the youth rate: its July 1, 2026 notice says all youth workers must receive at least $17.05. Illinois child labor rules on hours and permits for 14- and 15-year-olds apply on top.

New employees 18 and older. Illinois allows a training rate of 50 cents below the minimum, $14.50, for the first 90 consecutive calendar days with an employer. IDOL lists this as “$14.50 for the first 90 days with employer.” Cook County allows a similar 50-cent reduction, to $14.90, for 90 days, but not for day laborers or temporary and seasonal workers. Many employers skip the training rate entirely, since a $0.50 difference for 90 days rarely offsets the payroll change and the hiring message it sends.

Who is not covered. Executive, administrative and professional employees as defined by the FLSA are exempt from the state minimum wage and overtime rules, and so are a short list of others such as car and farm equipment salespeople and mechanics at dealerships and certain commissioned employees under FLSA section 7(i). Exempt status still needs a salary of at least $684 a week under federal rules plus the duties test; see our exempt vs non-exempt guide.

Chicago minimum wage 2026

Chicago’s ordinance (Municipal Code chapter 6-105) sets a higher floor for anyone who works at least two hours in a two-week period inside the city for an employer with four or more employees. The Chicago Office of Labor Standards, part of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), adjusts the rate every July 1 for inflation. Its notice effective July 1, 2026 lists:

The city notice must be displayed at the workplace and given to each covered employee with their first paycheck. The next adjustment is due July 1, 2027; the city usually announces the figure in early June.

The tipped phase-out, and the 2026 pause. Chicago’s One Fair Wage ordinance, passed in October 2023, set the tip credit to shrink by 8 percentage points of the minimum wage each July 1 until it reached zero on July 1, 2028. The credit fell to 32% in July 2024 and 24% in July 2025, which is why the tipped wage is 76% of the standard rate ($12.96 is 76% of $17.05, a credit of $4.09). On May 20, 2026, the City Council approved a compromise ordinance that paused the schedule, so the credit did not drop to 16% on July 1, 2026. Under the amended schedule, as summarized by the law firm Littler:

Because the percentage is fixed until 2028, the Chicago tipped wage will still move each July 1 as the standard rate rises with inflation. Confirm the exact cash wage on the Office of Labor Standards notice each summer, and count your employees carefully: the two schedules diverge in 2028.

Chicago tipped example. A bartender works 30 hours in a week and is paid the $12.96 cash wage: $388.80. The job must pay at least 30 × $17.05 = $511.50, so tips need to cover $122.70. Chicago also has a Fair Workweek ordinance for larger employers in restaurants, retail, hotels, health care, warehouses and a few other industries, requiring schedules 14 days in advance; our scheduling software publishes shifts to the employee app with the date and time stamped.

Cook County minimum wage

Suburban Cook County (everything in the county outside Chicago) has its own Minimum Wage Ordinance, enforced by the Cook County Commission on Human Rights. The Commission’s FAQ for July 1, 2026 states: “Beginning July 1, 2026, the minimum wage for non-tipped workers is $15.40 per hour for standard work hours and $23.10 per hour for overtime hours. The minimum wage for tipped workers is $9.25 per hour for standard work hours and $16.94 per hour for overtime hours.”

• How the rate is set. Every July 1 the county uses the highest of the federal rate, the state rate, or its own CPI-based figure, with the CPI increase capped at 2.5%. For 2026 the CPI exceeded the cap, so the 2.5% cap produced $15.40. The county figure cannot be used when county unemployment is 8.5% or higher.
• Who is covered. Employers with four or more employees that have a business facility or license in the county, for employees 18 and older who work at least two hours in a two-week period inside the county, including drivers and delivery staff passing through. The county ordinance does not apply to employees under 18; the state youth rate of $13.00 does.
• Opt-outs. Many suburban municipalities have opted out of the county ordinance, and the list changes. If a village has opted out, the state rate of $15.00 applies there. The FAQ tells employers to check with the municipality where the work is done.
• Training period. Employers may pay up to $0.50 below the county rate for the first 90 days, except for day laborers, temporary and seasonal workers.

No other Illinois city or county has its own minimum wage ordinance, so Springfield, Peoria, Rockford, Champaign and the Metro East all use the $15.00 state rate.

Overtime, day of rest and meal breaks in Illinois

Overtime. Illinois follows the FLSA: 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. There is no daily overtime, and IDOL’s FAQ says work on a holiday or Sunday counts toward overtime only if it pushes the week past 40 hours; a premium for those days is only owed if your own policy promises it. Our holiday pay guide covers what policies usually say.

One Day Rest in Seven Act (ODRISA). IDOL’s ODRISA page requires “a minimum of 24 hours of rest within every consecutive 7-day period.” Employers can apply to IDOL for a permit letting employees voluntarily work a seventh day, with overtime still owed over 40 hours. The same law sets the meal break: an employee who works 7.5 continuous hours gets “a meal period of at least 20 minutes,” beginning no later than 5 hours after the shift starts, plus another 20 minutes for every additional 4.5 continuous hours. Reasonable restroom breaks are separate. The break is unpaid only if the employee is fully relieved; if they work through it, pay for it. Penalties run up to $250 per offense per employee for employers under 25 people and $500 for 25 or more, payable to both the employee and the state, and each missed meal period is its own offense.

Since January 1, 2026, Illinois also requires employers to pay for break time an employee uses to express breast milk. A time and attendance system that flags a shift with no break punch after five hours is the easiest way to stay inside these rules.

Paid Leave for All Workers Act

Since January 1, 2024, the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (PLAWA) requires nearly every Illinois employer to give paid leave that can be used for any reason. IDOL’s FAQ sets the terms:

• Employees earn at least 1 hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours in a 12-month period. Exempt employees are treated as working 40 hours a week for accrual. Employers may frontload the 40 hours instead.
• Employees may start using leave 90 days after they start (or after March 31, 2024, for existing staff), and the employer “may not require workers to provide a basis for their time off request.”
• Unused accrued leave carries over, though use can be capped at 40 hours a year. Frontloaded leave does not have to carry over.
• Unused PLAWA leave does not have to be paid out at separation unless it sits in a general PTO or vacation bank, in which case the Wage Payment and Collection Act treats it as earned wages that must be paid.
• Chicago and Cook County employers follow their local ordinances instead. Chicago’s Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave ordinance gives 1 hour of paid leave and 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 35 hours worked, each up to 40 hours a year, and large employers (51 or more) must pay out up to 56 hours of unused paid leave at separation.

The required PLAWA notice must be posted, and employers must keep a running balance for each employee and show it on request. Accrual, carryover and the state-by-state payout rules are covered in our paid time off guide, and Workzenly PTO tracking accrues by hours worked so the balance follows the law automatically.

Paydays, pay stubs and final pay

The Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act fills in the rest of the paycheck rules. From IDOL’s FAQ and poster:

• Pay frequency. “Every employer is required to pay all wages earned at least semi-monthly,” and wages must be paid “no later than 13 days after the end of the pay period in which the wages were earned.” Biweekly and weekly schedules qualify. FLSA-exempt executive, administrative and professional employees, and commissions, may be paid once a month.
• Pay stubs. The employer “must provide an employee with a paystub for every pay period.” Our pay stub guide shows what it should contain.
• Final pay. Final compensation is due at separation if possible and “in no event later than the next regularly scheduled payday,” whether the employee quit or was let go. It includes earned vacation and earned holidays, bonuses and commissions. Severance is owed only if a contract promises it.
• Deductions and expenses. Deductions need written consent or a legal basis, and employers must reimburse necessary business expenses requested within 30 days unless policy allows longer.
• Claims. Employees have one year from the date wages were due to file with IDOL.

Minimum wage posting requirements

• State poster. Every Illinois employer must display IDOL’s “Your Rights Under Illinois Employment Laws” notice, which covers the Minimum Wage Law, Wage Payment and Collection Act, Child Labor Law, Equal Pay Act, VESSA and ODRISA in one sheet. It is free to download in English, Spanish, Polish and Ukrainian. The current version shows the $15.00, $9.00 and $13.00 rates effective January 1, 2025.
• Paid leave notice. The Paid Leave for All Workers Act notice is also required for all employers and is available in eleven languages.
• Chicago. The Office of Labor Standards notice, updated each July 1, must be posted and handed to each covered employee with their first paycheck.
• Cook County. Employers covered by the county ordinance must post its minimum wage notice; failing to notify employees of their rights is itself a violation.
• Federal. The federal minimum wage poster (WH-1088) is still required alongside the state notices.

What employers should do

1. Map every work location to a rate. Chicago ($17.05), suburban Cook County ($15.40 unless the municipality opted out), everywhere else ($15.00). Pay the rate where the work happens, not where the business is registered.
2. Audit tipped pay weekly. Compare cash wages plus declared tips with the full minimum for the hours worked and add make-up pay when short. In Chicago, note the 24% credit cap and the 2028 step-down.
3. Watch the 650-hour mark for minors. Set a reminder at 600 hours for anyone under 18 on the $13.00 rate, and move them to $15.00 when they cross 650.
4. Calendar July 1. Chicago and Cook County announce new rates in June. Update pay rates for the first shift on or after July 1, and replace the local posters.
5. Check exempt salaries and duties. Illinois follows the federal $684-a-week salary test; anyone below it is non-exempt and owed overtime no matter the job title.
6. Schedule the break and the day off. Build the 20-minute meal into any shift over 7.5 hours and avoid seventh consecutive days without an IDOL permit.
7. Review pay compression. A Chicago shift lead at $17.25 now earns 20 cents above a new hire. Decide on raises before the next schedule goes out.
8. Keep the records. Hours by day and week, rate paid, tips, meal breaks and paid leave balances, for at least three years.

Underpayment is expensive in Illinois: the employee can recover three times the shortfall plus 5% a month in damages and attorney fees, and IDOL can audit at random. Workers with questions can call IDOL’s minimum wage line at 1-800-478-3998, and Chicago workers can call 311.

Frequently asked questions