Illinois Paycheck Calculator
Illinois is constitutionally required to tax income at a single flat rate, which has been 4.95% since 2017. What makes an Illinois paycheck genuinely simple is what is missing: no local income tax anywhere in the state, including Chicago, and no state disability or paid-leave deduction.
Tax year 2026 · Updated 2026-08-29 · Federal withholding follows IRS Publication 15-T · Illinois tax authority
Loading calculator…
Enable JavaScript to use the calculator. The tax tables and worked examples on this page stay readable without it.
How Illinois taxes your paycheck
Illinois withholding starts from gross wages and subtracts an exemption allowance of $2,925 per allowance claimed on Form IL-W-4 — $2,925 for yourself, another for a spouse, and $2,925 per dependent — then applies 4.95% to the remainder. There is no standard deduction. The exemption phases out entirely above $250,000 of AGI for single filers and $500,000 joint. Residents of Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin who work in Illinois file Form IL-W-5-NR and have no Illinois tax withheld at all.
Every Illinois paycheck starts with the same two federal layers. Federal income tax is calculated with the IRS percentage method from Publication 15-T: your pay is annualized, adjusted for the entries on your Form W-4, run through the withholding schedule for your filing status, then divided back down to a per-paycheck figure. On top of that, Social Security and Medicare take a combined 7.65% — 6.2% for Social Security on wages up to $184,500 in 2026, and 1.45% for Medicare with no ceiling at all. Only after those two layers does anything state-specific apply.
Illinois income tax rates for 2026
Illinois applies a single rate of 4.95% to taxable income. Illinois has no standard deduction; the flat rate applies above a per-allowance exemption.
| Illinois withholding parameter | 2026 amount |
|---|---|
| Personal exemption per taxpayer | $2,925 |
| Exemption per dependent | $2,925 |
| Effective IL tax on a $75,000 salary | $3,568 (4.76% of gross) |
Local income taxes in Illinois
No Illinois city, county or school district levies an income tax on wages. Whatever your stub shows beyond federal tax, FICA and your own benefit elections, it is not a local income tax — which makes Illinois simpler to model than neighbouring states that stack city taxes on top of the state rate. If you commute into another state for work, though, that state's local taxes can still reach you; our guide to working in two states covers how that works.
Illinois take-home pay at different salaries
The table below runs the full 2026 calculation — federal withholding under Publication 15-T, Social Security, Medicare, Illinois income tax and any state premiums — at ten common salary levels. It assumes a single filer, standard withholding with no Step 2 checkbox, no dependents and no pre-tax benefits, so treat it as a baseline rather than a personal figure.
| Gross salary | Federal tax | FICA | IL tax | Annual take-home | Bi-weekly | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $1,420 | $2,295 | $1,340 | $24,945 | $959.41 | 83.1% |
| $40,000 | $2,620 | $3,060 | $1,835 | $32,485 | $1,249.41 | 81.2% |
| $50,000 | $3,820 | $3,825 | $2,330 | $40,025 | $1,539.41 | 80% |
| $60,000 | $5,020 | $4,590 | $2,825 | $47,565 | $1,829.41 | 79.3% |
| $75,000 | $7,670 | $5,738 | $3,568 | $58,025 | $2,231.72 | 77.4% |
| $90,000 | $10,970 | $6,885 | $4,310 | $67,835 | $2,609.03 | 75.4% |
| $100,000 | $13,170 | $7,650 | $4,805 | $74,375 | $2,860.57 | 74.4% |
| $125,000 | $18,734 | $9,562 | $6,043 | $90,661 | $3,486.95 | 72.5% |
| $150,000 | $24,734 | $11,475 | $7,280 | $106,511 | $4,096.57 | 71% |
| $200,000 | $36,734 | $14,339 | $9,755 | $139,172 | $5,352.76 | 69.6% |
A single filer earning $75,000 in Illinois keeps about $58,025 a year, or $2,231.72 on a bi-weekly schedule — an effective total tax rate of 22.6% once federal tax, FICA and state tax are counted. Married filers generally keep more at the same gross because the federal joint schedule is wider; you can model that by switching the filing status in the calculator, or compare states side by side with the state paycheck comparison tool.
What actually changes your Illinois paycheck
Because Illinois exempts retirement income entirely — Social Security, pensions, and 401(k) or IRA distributions — deferring salary into a traditional 401(k) is unusually powerful here: you skip the 4.95% now and never pay it on the way out. That is a genuinely different calculation from most states.
Three federal levers matter everywhere, and they are usually worth more than any state-specific trick. The first is Step 2 of your Form W-4: if you hold two jobs or your spouse works, leaving it blank tells the tables to assume your job is the household's only income, which under-withholds badly. Our W-4 walkthrough walks through it line by line. The second is pre-tax benefits — health premiums, an FSA or an HSA come out before Social Security and Medicare as well as income tax, so they are worth more per dollar than a 401(k) deferral. The third is the 401(k) paycheck calculator, which shows exactly how much take-home you give up for each percentage point you defer.
Illinois minimum wage and hourly pay
The Illinois minimum wage for 2026 is $15.00 an hour. Illinois reached $15.00 in 2025; Chicago and Cook County set higher local minimums.
If you are paid by the hour rather than on salary, the Illinois hourly paycheck calculator handles overtime, multiple rates and unpaid breaks. Here is what a full-time schedule of 40 hours a week looks like across a range of hourly rates in Illinois.
| Hourly rate | Gross year | Total tax | Annual take-home | Bi-weekly | Effective hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00/hr | $31,200 | $5,350 | $25,850 | $994.21 | $12.43/hr |
| $18.00/hr | $37,440 | $6,885 | $30,555 | $1,175.17 | $14.69/hr |
| $20.00/hr | $41,600 | $7,909 | $33,691 | $1,295.81 | $16.20/hr |
| $22.00/hr | $45,760 | $8,932 | $36,828 | $1,416.45 | $17.71/hr |
| $25.00/hr | $52,000 | $10,467 | $41,533 | $1,597.41 | $19.97/hr |
| $30.00/hr | $62,400 | $13,026 | $49,374 | $1,899.01 | $23.74/hr |
| $35.00/hr | $72,800 | $16,214 | $56,586 | $2,176.38 | $27.20/hr |
| $40.00/hr | $83,200 | $19,812 | $63,388 | $2,437.98 | $30.47/hr |
| $50.00/hr | $104,000 | $27,009 | $76,991 | $2,961.18 | $37.01/hr |
| $65.00/hr | $135,200 | $38,072 | $97,128 | $3,735.68 | $46.70/hr |
Working across state lines from Illinois
Illinois has reciprocity agreements with Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin. A resident of one of those states who works in Illinois files the appropriate exemption certificate and has no Illinois income tax withheld — their home state taxes the wages instead. Reciprocity covers state income tax only: where a city or county tax applies, it is generally still withheld from non-residents.
Our guide to multi-state withholding covers the mechanics — resident credits, part-year returns, and what to do when you move mid-year.
Frequently asked questions
Does Chicago have a city income tax?
No. Chicago levies no income tax on wages, and neither does any other Illinois municipality. The 4.95% state rate is the entire income tax on an Illinois paycheck.
Is my 401(k) taxed by Illinois when I withdraw it?
No. Illinois excludes qualified retirement distributions from state income tax, so a traditional 401(k) deferral avoids the 4.95% both going in and coming out.
How much is taken out of a paycheck in Illinois?
On a $75,000 salary a single filer in Illinois has about $16,975 withheld a year — $7,670 in federal income tax, $5,738 in Social Security and Medicare, and $3,568 in Illinois state tax and premiums. That leaves roughly $58,025 a year, or $2,231.72 every two weeks.
How do I calculate my take-home pay in Illinois?
Start with gross pay for the period, subtract pre-tax benefit deductions, then subtract federal income tax calculated from your W-4 under the Publication 15-T percentage method, 6.2% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base, 1.45% Medicare, and Illinois income tax on the amount left after the state's own deductions and exemptions. The calculator at the top of this page does all of it for you and shows each line separately.
Is this Illinois paycheck calculator accurate for 2026?
It uses the 2026 federal withholding schedules published in IRS Publication 15-T and Illinois's current withholding parameters, so it matches a correctly configured payroll system closely. Differences usually come from something your employer knows and the calculator does not: a mid-year raise, a benefit election that started part-way through the year, or year-to-date wages that have already passed the Social Security wage base. See our methodology page for exactly what is modelled.
Related calculators
If you are paid hourly, start with the Illinois hourly calculator instead. To see what a raise or a bonus does, the bonus tax calculator applies the 22% supplemental rate the IRS allows employers to use, and the gross-up calculator solves the problem in reverse when you need a specific amount to land in someone's account.