Chicago Paycheck Calculator
Calculate take-home pay for a job in Chicago. There is no city income tax to add — a Chicago paycheck is taxed exactly like the rest of Illinois — but the local minimum wage, sales tax and paid leave rules are all different, and this page covers those too.
Chicago Paycheck Calculator
- Gross pay $0 / yr$0.00
- Pre-tax deductions$0.00
- Federal income tax$0.00
- Illinois income tax flat 4.95%$0.00
- Social Security wage base reached$0.00
- Medicare$0.00
- Additional Medicare 0.9%$0.00
- After-tax deductions$0.00
- Total taxes$0.00
- Federal income tax$0
- Illinois income tax$0
- FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$0
- All taxes$0
- Take-home pay$0
Your paycheck in Chicago is taxed at exactly the same rates as one in Rockford, Springfield or Cairo — federal withholding, Illinois at a flat 4.95%, and FICA at 7.65%. The Illinois Constitution permits a home-rule unit to levy an income tax only with the General Assembly's authorization, and that authorization has never been granted to any Illinois municipality.
What actually is different in Chicago
Plenty is different about working in Chicago. None of it appears on your pay stub.
| Chicago | Illinois elsewhere | |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax on wages | 4.95% — no city tax | 4.95% |
| Minimum wage | $17.05 from July 1, 2026 (4+ employees) | $15.00 statewide |
| Tipped minimum wage | $12.96 | $9.00 |
| Sales tax on general merchandise | 10.50% | 6.25% to 11.25% depending on the town |
| Paid leave | Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance | Paid Leave for All Workers Act |
| Fair Workweek | Applies to covered industries | No state equivalent |
| Vehicle purchase (dealer) | 8.75% — includes the 1.25% home rule use tax | 6.25% to 7.50% |
The pattern is consistent: Chicago's home-rule powers reach consumption and employment standards, not wages. That is why the city can charge 10.50% on a sofa and mandate $17.05 an hour, but cannot take a cent of income tax from your salary.
Chicago take-home pay by salary
| Salary | Federal | Illinois | FICA | Chicago | Take-home | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $2,620 | $1,980 | $3,060 | $0 | $32,340 | $2,695 |
| $50,000 | $3,820 | $2,475 | $3,825 | $0 | $39,880 | $3,323 |
| $60,000 | $5,020 | $2,970 | $4,590 | $0 | $47,420 | $3,952 |
| $75,000 | $7,670 | $3,713 | $5,738 | $0 | $57,880 | $4,823 |
| $90,000 | $10,970 | $4,455 | $6,885 | $0 | $67,690 | $5,641 |
| $100,000 | $13,170 | $4,950 | $7,650 | $0 | $74,230 | $6,186 |
| $125,000 | $18,734 | $6,188 | $9,563 | $0 | $90,516 | $7,543 |
| $150,000 | $24,734 | $7,425 | $11,475 | $0 | $106,366 | $8,864 |
For a fuller breakdown by salary, including the joint-filing comparison, see salary after taxes in Illinois, or the individual walkthroughs for $80,000 and $100,000. If you are paid by the hour rather than on a salary, the hourly paycheck calculator handles overtime and multiple rates.
The Chicago minimum wage
Chicago sets its own floor and has done since 2015. From July 1, 2026 it is $17.05 an hour for employers with four or more workers, more than two dollars above the Illinois state minimum of $15.00.
The tipped rate is where the recent news sits. Under the One Fair Wage ordinance, Chicago had been phasing out the tip credit — reducing it in steps until tipped workers would earn the full minimum wage in direct pay. That phase-out has been paused. The tip credit stays at 24% of the minimum wage, so the tipped minimum is $12.96, and the next substantial increase has been deferred. Suburban Cook County runs a separate ordinance at $15.40, with municipalities permitted to opt out.
| Category | Rate from July 1, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Chicago standard minimum wage (4+ employees) | $17.05 |
| Chicago tipped minimum wage | $12.96 |
| Suburban Cook County | $15.40 |
| Suburban Cook County, tipped | $9.25 |
| Illinois statewide | $15.00 |
At $17.05 an hour a full-time schedule is $35,464 a year gross, and about $28,920 after federal tax, Illinois tax and FICA for a single filer.
Chicago paid leave
Chicago workers are covered by the city's own ordinance rather than the state Paid Leave for All Workers Act, and the city's version is more generous. Employees accrue both paid leave usable for any reason and paid sick leave, at a combined rate well above the state's single bucket of 40 hours a year. Covered industries — building services, healthcare, hotels, manufacturing, restaurants, retail, warehouse services and transport — are additionally protected by the Fair Workweek Ordinance, which requires advance notice of schedules and predictability pay when a shift changes late.
None of this changes your tax. It changes how many paid hours you accrue, which changes gross pay, which the calculator above then taxes normally.
Where Chicago money actually goes
If income tax is identical statewide, the honest question is where the Chicago premium and the Chicago discount actually sit.
Sales tax is genuinely higher. At 10.50% against 8.00% in Naperville, a household spending $30,000 a year on taxable goods pays about $750 more in Chicago. That is real money, though it is a fraction of what the housing difference does.
Property tax is more complicated than the stereotype. Effective rates in many south and west Cook County suburbs run higher than in the city, and Chicago's residential rate is not the outlier people expect. What differs is the price of the property the rate applies to.
Wages are higher. The Chicago metropolitan area's mean hourly wage of $35.28 sits about 5% above the national mean, and Cook County's average weekly wage of $1,930 is more than 20% above the national figure. Management occupations average $72.18 an hour in the metro and legal occupations $71.28.
Transit is a real substitute for a car. The CTA and Metra make a car optional in much of the city in a way it is not downstate — worth several thousand dollars a year in insurance, fuel, parking and the vehicle taxes covered on our vehicle tax page.
Working in Chicago, living elsewhere
Chicago's labor market pulls from three states, and the tax treatment differs by which one you live in.
| You live in | Who taxes your Chicago wages | What you file |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois | Illinois only | Form IL-1040 |
| Indiana | Illinois, then Indiana with a credit | IL-1040 with Schedule NR, plus Indiana IT-40 |
| Wisconsin | Wisconsin only — reciprocal | Form IL-W-5-NR with your employer, then a Wisconsin return |
| Michigan or Iowa | Home state only — reciprocal | Form IL-W-5-NR, then a home-state return |
The Indiana case catches people out because Illinois and Indiana are not reciprocal despite sharing a border and a commuter belt. Indiana residents working in Chicago file in both states and rely on the credit mechanism to avoid double taxation on the state portion, while the Indiana county income tax generally still applies.
Related Illinois calculators
Hourly paycheck calculator
Regular hours, overtime at time and a half, double time and a second pay rate — all in one paycheck.
Illinois income tax calculator
The whole Form IL-1040 in one screen: base income, exemptions, the flat 4.95% and every major credit.
Tax refund calculator
Compare what you owe Illinois against what has been withheld, and see the refund or the bill coming.
Sales tax calculator
Combined rates for 56 Illinois cities, updated for the August 2026 transit tax increase.
Bonus tax calculator
See what a bonus is worth after the flat 22% federal supplemental rate and Illinois withholding.
Self-employment tax calculator
1099 and Schedule C income: SE tax, federal tax, Illinois tax and your quarterly estimated payment.
Unemployment benefits calculator
Estimate your IDES weekly benefit amount from your base-period wages and dependent status.
All Illinois calculators →
Fourteen tools covering pay, income tax, sales tax, vehicles, benefits and garnishment.
People also ask about Chicago paychecks
No. Chicago levies no income tax on wages, and neither does Cook County. The Illinois Constitution allows a home-rule unit such as Chicago to impose an income tax only if the General Assembly authorizes it, and the legislature never has. A Chicago paycheck and a Peoria paycheck at the same salary, with the same forms on file, produce identical withholding. What is higher in Chicago is sales tax and the local minimum wage — neither of which appears as a deduction on your pay stub.
The same as anywhere in Illinois: federal income tax withholding on a sliding scale, Illinois income tax at a flat 4.95%, and FICA at 7.65%. For a single filer on $75,000 with no dependents that comes to roughly $17,120 a year, leaving about $57,880 — an effective rate near 23%. There is no Chicago line on the stub because there is no Chicago wage tax to put there.
$17.05 an hour from July 1, 2026, for employers with four or more workers — well above the $15.00 Illinois state minimum. Tipped employees receive $12.96, with the tip credit held at 24% after the One Fair Wage phase-out was paused. For the first time, subsidized youth and transitional employment programs also reach the full $17.05 rate. Suburban Cook County sits lower at $15.40.
Not on income tax, which is identical statewide. The differences are elsewhere. Sales tax varies sharply — Chicago is 10.50% while Naperville is 8.00% — so a household spending $30,000 a year on taxable goods saves around $750 in DuPage County. Property tax varies even more, and not in the direction people assume: effective rates in many Cook County suburbs run higher than in the city itself. The sales tax calculator covers the first of those.
10.50% on general merchandise since August 1, 2026, up from 10.25%. It is built from 6.25% state, 1.25% Chicago home rule, 1.75% Cook County and 1.25% Northern Illinois Transit Authority. The quarter-point increase came from the transit levy under Informational Bulletin FY 2026-34 and applied across all six northeastern counties. Groceries carry a separate 1% local rate; drugs and medical appliances are taxed at 1% statewide.
Illinois and Indiana have no reciprocal agreement. Illinois taxes the wages you earn in Chicago and you file an Illinois nonresident return on Schedule NR. Indiana then taxes the same income as resident income but gives you a credit for the tax paid to Illinois against the state portion — the Indiana county tax generally still applies on top. Our Illinois versus Indiana comparison works through the whole picture.
The income tax is identical, but the deductions differ. Chicago municipal employees participate in the Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund rather than a private 401(k), with pension contributions taken pre-tax, and sworn police and fire personnel have their own funds. Some public-safety groups are outside Social Security. State of Illinois employees working in Chicago have a different arrangement again — see the state employee pay guide.
Common budgeting guidance puts a comfortable single-person income in Chicago somewhere around $75,000 to $95,000, which takes home roughly $57,880 to $70,960 after tax. The Chicago metropolitan area's mean wage of $35.28 an hour is about 5% above the national average, and Cook County's average weekly wage of $1,930 runs more than 20% above it. Housing is what moves the number, not tax — see the average salary in Illinois page.
Sources
- City of Chicago — minimum wage and labor standards
- Civic Federation — why Chicago has no city income tax
- IDOR Bulletin FY 2026-34 — transit sales tax increase, August 1, 2026
- BLS — Chicago area occupational employment and wages
- IDOR — Booklet IL-700-T
Estimates for planning only. Chicago and Cook County labor ordinances change frequently and coverage depends on employer size and industry; confirm current requirements with the City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. Not tax or legal advice.