Minimum Wage in Illinois

Current minimum wage rates

Wages update each January for state and July for Chicago. Check for the current year.

State of Illinois

• Standard (adults 18+): $15.00/hour (as of January 1, 2025)
• Youth workers (under 18, working fewer than 650 hours/year): $13.00/hour
• Tipped workers: $9.00/hour base + tips that bring total to at least $15.00/hour

Chicago

• Standard (workers at employers with 4+ employees): $16.20/hour (as of July 1, 2024 — updates each July)
• Tipped workers: $11.02/hour base, decreasing annually as Chicago phases out the tip credit entirely by 2028

Cook County (outside Chicago)

• Standard: $15.00/hour (matches state)
• Some suburban municipalities opted out of the county ordinance

Which wage applies to you

The employee is entitled to the highest applicable wage. So a tipped server in a Chicago restaurant is entitled to Chicago tipped-worker rates (higher than state), not state tipped-worker rates. A warehouse worker in an unincorporated suburb is entitled to Cook County rates if the county ordinance applies to that location.

Location means where the work is performed — not where the employer is headquartered. A Chicago-based employer with a worker who commutes to an Indiana warehouse is subject to Indiana law for that worker.

Tipped workers

Federal and Illinois law allow employers to pay a reduced cash wage to tipped workers (a "tip credit"), as long as tips bring the total to at least the full minimum wage. The employer must make up any shortfall.

Common violations:

• Tips stolen by the employer or shared with non-tipped workers improperly
• Total hourly earnings (cash wage + tips) below minimum wage
• Tip pooling that includes managers or back-of-house employees who don't qualify
• Credit card processing fees deducted from tips above a limit
• "Sidework" (cleaning, prep, restocking) performed for more than 20% of the shift while still being paid the tipped rate

Chicago phased out the tipped minimum wage — all tipped workers in Chicago are moving toward receiving the full minimum wage regardless of tips by 2028.

Overtime

Non-exempt employees are entitled to 1.5× the regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a single workweek. See the separate overtime guide for detail on exemptions, "regular rate" calculation, and common employer errors.

Paid sick leave and paid leave for any reason

Illinois has several paid-leave laws:

• Paid Leave for All Workers Act (effective 2024). Employees in Illinois earn up to 40 hours of paid leave per year, usable for any reason, after 90 days of employment.
• Chicago Paid Sick Leave Ordinance. Chicago workers earn paid sick leave separately, applicable to Chicago employers.
• Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance. Similar rules for non-Chicago Cook County workers.

Employees cannot be retaliated against for using paid leave.

What is and isn't work time

• Work time: Time required to be at the workplace or on duty, required training, required travel between job sites, short breaks (under 20 minutes), being on call at a location the employer controls.
• Not work time: Meal breaks of 30+ minutes when truly relieved of duty, personal time, voluntary training outside work hours, commute to first job site and home from last.

Off-the-clock work — checking email before arriving, finishing paperwork after leaving, answering calls on breaks — is work time and must be paid. "I only worked the clock" is a common employer defense, but the underlying work time is still compensable.

Common wage theft patterns

• Off-the-clock work not paid
• Overtime not paid or wrongly calculated
• Tips stolen or improperly pooled
• Minimum wage not paid to tipped workers who don't earn enough tips
• Misclassification as "independent contractor" to avoid minimum wage and overtime
• Deductions from pay for uniforms, broken items, cash register shortages (sometimes unlawful)
• Final paychecks not issued on time (Illinois law requires payment by next regular payday)
• Straight time paid instead of overtime for hours over 40
• "Salary exempt" classification for workers who don't actually qualify

How to report

Illinois Department of Labor

Enforces state minimum wage, overtime, Paid Leave for All Workers Act, and related laws. File complaints online or call 312-793-2800. Anonymous complaints accepted; investigation follows.

U.S. Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Division

Enforces federal FLSA. Useful when the state agency is slow or when the employer is an interstate operation. File online or call 866-487-9243. Complaints can be made in any language; WHD has confidentiality protections for workers.

Chicago Office of Labor Standards

Enforces Chicago ordinances including Chicago Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave. File at chicago.gov Office of Labor Standards.

Cook County Department of Human Rights and Ethics

Enforces Cook County wage and sick-leave ordinances.

Private lawsuit

Both Illinois and federal law allow private suits for wage violations, with treble damages and attorney's fees for successful plaintiffs. Plaintiffs'-side employment attorneys often take wage cases on contingency. National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) maintains a directory.

Retaliation

Retaliation for filing a wage complaint or discussing wages is independently illegal. If your hours are cut, you are terminated, or your working conditions change after you raise a wage issue, that is itself a claim. Document the timing carefully.

Immigration status and wage protections

Wage protections apply regardless of immigration status. An undocumented worker is entitled to minimum wage, overtime, and paid leave on the same terms as any other worker. Agencies and many attorneys represent workers regardless of status. Worker centers like Latino Union of Chicago and Chicago Workers Collaborative specialize in wage claims for immigrant workers.