Paycheck Estimator Illinois (2026)

Paycheck estimator Illinois: 2026 take-home pay

On a $60,000 salary paid every two weeks, a single Illinois worker takes home about $1,829.41 per paycheck, or $47,565 a year. Illinois income tax is about $108.66 of each check.

Illinois paycheck taxes for 2026

• Flat 4.95% state income tax on wages after allowances.
• $2,925 per Line 1 allowance on Form IL-W-4 (up from $2,850 in 2025): one for you, one for your spouse if filing jointly, one per dependent.
• $1,000 per Line 2 allowance if you or your spouse are 65+ or legally blind.
• No local income tax. Chicago and other Illinois cities don't tax wages.
• No state disability or family-leave payroll deduction. Illinois's paid-leave law gives time off but isn't a payroll tax on employees.

Illinois treats 401(k) contributions and cafeteria-plan health premiums as pre-tax, the same as federal, so they lower your state tax too.

Illinois hourly pay after taxes

Illinois's minimum wage is $15 an hour (Chicago's is higher). At $20 an hour and 40 hours a week, a single worker keeps about $1,295.82 every two weeks.

New for 2026: the tips and overtime deduction

For 2025–2028, federal law (P.L. 119-21) lets workers deduct up to $25,000 of qualified tips and up to $12,500 of qualified overtime pay ($25,000 if married filing jointly). The 2026 Form W-4 lets you put these amounts in Step 4(b) so less federal tax is withheld from each check, instead of waiting for a refund. "Qualified overtime" is only the extra half in time-and-a-half, not the whole overtime check.

Example: a Illinois worker earning $20 an hour with 5 hours of overtime a week has about $2,600 of qualified overtime a year. With the deduction on the W-4, take-home is about $1,534.02 every two weeks. The estimator turns this on by default; switch it off under Adjust W-4 if you haven't updated your W-4. The deduction phases out above $150,000 of income ($300,000 joint) and does not reduce Social Security or Medicare.

How to use the Illinois paycheck estimator

1. Choose Salary or Hourly, then enter your pay. For hourly pay, add your usual hours and any overtime hours per week.
2. Pick how often you're paid (weekly, every 2 weeks, twice a month or monthly) and your filing status from your W-4.
3. Open Adjust W-4, benefits & local tax to add dependents, 401(k), health insurance, HSA or tips.
4. Read your take-home pay per paycheck and per year. Every line shows what was taken out and why.

Common mistakes when estimating a Illinois paycheck

• Leaving IL-W-4 allowances at zero. Without allowances your employer withholds 4.95% of every dollar; each allowance saves about $145 a year.
• Expecting a Chicago city tax. There isn't one. Chicago's high sales tax doesn't come out of paychecks.
• Mixing up biweekly and semi-monthly. Every 2 weeks is 26 paychecks a year; twice a month is 24. The same salary gives a smaller biweekly check.
• Forgetting pre-tax benefits. A 401(k) lowers income tax but not Social Security or Medicare; health premiums through a cafeteria plan lower both.
• Comparing an estimate with your first paycheck of the year. Year-to-date caps (Social Security, some state insurance) mean later checks can differ.

How we calculate (and how accurate it is)

Federal income tax uses the IRS Publication 15-T (2026) percentage method for 2020-and-later W-4s, worksheet 1A, the same math payroll software uses. Social Security is 6.2% up to the 2026 wage base of $184,500 and Medicare is 1.45%, plus 0.9% above $200,000. Illinois income tax follows Booklet IL-700-T (2026): 4.95% of wages after $2,925 per IL-W-4 Line 1 allowance.

We annualize your pay, apply the tables and divide by your number of paychecks, so results can differ from your employer's per-period tables by a few cents. Tables were last checked against the official sources on October 4, 2026. This is an estimate, not tax advice. For decisions that matter, check with your payroll department or a tax professional.