Minimum Wage in Illinois – weekly, monthly, annually

In Illinois, the minimum hourly wage is $12.00. This is $4.75 above the federal minimum hourly wage, which is $7.25.

Each year, this rate will continue to go up on January 1, until it reaches $15 an hour in 2025.

The City of Chicago and Cook County have their own minimum wage levels, which are above the state’s rate.

In July 2022, Chicago raised its minimum wage level for non-tipped employees to $15.40 for businesses that have 21 or more workers and to $14.50 for businesses that employ fewer than 21 workers. Chicago increased its minimum rate for tipped workers to $9.24 for large businesses and to $8.70 for small employers.

Cook County’s minimum wage requirements were raised as well in July 2022. The minimum rate went to $13.35 for non-tipped employees and to $7.40 for tipped workers.

Tipped employees who don’t reach the level of their area’s minimum wage standards (including tips or gratuities) need to get compensated by their employers for the difference.

A 2020 study conducted by the University of Illinois indicated that in Illinois, almost 1.5 adult hourly workers are making less than $15 an hour.

Illinois Paycheck Calculator

With our Illinois Paycheck Calculator, you can easily convert your hourly pay to annual, monthly, or weekly earnings.

How to use the Illinois paycheck calculator

1. Start with putting in your hourly pay.
2. Then, put in the number of hours you work per week.
3. Then, the paycheck calculator will convert your hourly wage to annual, monthly, or weekly earnings.

How does this Illinois paycheck calculator work?

For most employees, understanding their paycheck is pretty straightforward. Every week or every two weeks, or at the end of the month, they will receive a paycheck, and by the end of the calendar year, they’ll also receive their tax forms.

So, for employees with a regular job with a periodical paycheck, understanding their salaries is relatively simple. For workers with hourly pay, however, it is all a bit more confusing and perhaps a bit complicated.

That’s the reason why we designed this paycheck calculator or pay convertor. It is especially useful for workers that are paid by the hour. Our paycheck calculator is a very handy tool to convert your hourly wage to periodical earnings, for example, per week, month, or year.

These results are generated by multiplying your base hourly salary by the number of hours, weeks, or months you work yearly, assuming that you’re working 40 hours per week.

Minimum Wage in Illinois

So in Illinois, the minimum wage is $12.00 per hour. This translates to $96 per day, $480 per week (at 40 work hours), $2080 per month, and $24,960 per year.

Not all Illinois employees may get the state’s minimum compensation of $12 per hour, though. There are groups of workers that are exempt from this standard. The rate doesn’t apply, for example, to some tipped workers, college and high school students with part-time jobs, and some other categories.

Minimum wage exemptions in Illinois

As said, not all employers in Illinois need to be paid the state’s minimum rate of $12 an hour. Some occupations and individuals are specifically exempt from Illinois’ minimum pay rule under state or federal law.

Illinois additionally supports some exemptions to the state’s minimum wage requirements, for example, special exemptions for employees with disabilities and workers in sheltered workshop settings.

• New employees 18 years of age and older may receive 50 cents under the rate for the first 90 days on the job.
• If a minor worker younger than 18 years of age works over 650 hours for an employer during a calendar year, they will receive the regular (over 18) minimum hourly wage.
• Tipped workers may be compensated at 60% of the Illinois hourly minimum rate, but their total hourly earnings must be at least at the same level as the state minimum wage. If not, the employer must compensate for the difference.
• Full-time college and high school students that have a part-time job may get only 85% of Illinois’ minimum hourly rate (10.20 an hour), but only if the job is up to 20 hours a week and in, for example, a work-learn program from a college or university.

Illinois overtime wage

All Illinois employees who work more than 40 hours a week are entitled to overtime pay for those extra worked hours. They must receive no less than 1.5 times Illinois’ regular minimum rate of $12 for overtime hours (making that $18). Illinois labor law does not limit daily overtime hours.

All Illinois employers are required to display state-approved minimum wage posters in prominent and highly visible places to inform their workers about the state’s minimum wage regulations and their rights under federal and Illinois labor law. if employers fail to display such labor law posters, they may be faced with severe fines.

Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) regulations guarantee that all Illinois employees will receive adequate compensation for their qualifying overtime hours. If an employer isn’t paying overtime wages adequately, an unpaid overtime claim can be filed with Illinois’ Department of Labor.

What is work time?

The U.S. Working Time Regulations make clear that work time can be described as hours during which a worker is engaged in activities or duties for an employer

Work time also includes the hours during which a worker receives relevant training or education. When traveling comes with the position, those hours are considered work time. Commuting between home and work is not seen as work time, but small breaks (20 minutes max) are considered work time.

In general, we can say that work time includes all hours a worker is paid or is entitled to pay for engaging in activities that benefit the employer and that are initiated and controlled by the employer.

Please note that this post doesn’t contain legal advice. If you have any questions about Illinois’ minimum wage policies or minimum wage compliance, consult a tax professional or a tax attorney.