State of Illinois Employee Salaries: How to Look Them Up, and What State Pay Really Looks Like
Every State of Illinois salary is a public record, and three official databases let you search them by name, agency or title. This guide explains where to look, when state employees actually get paid, and why a state paycheck carries deductions — pension, insurance tiers, deferred compensation — that a private-sector pay stub never shows.
Three official databases, three different views
Illinois publishes state pay proactively in three searchable databases, and which one you need depends on who you are looking for.
The broadest is the Illinois Comptroller's employee salary database — often called "The Ledger" — at illinoiscomptroller.gov. Because the Comptroller cuts the checks for the centralized state payroll, this database covers everyone paid through it: agencies under the Governor, the legislature, the courts and the other constitutional offices. Each record shows the employee's name, agency, position title and year-to-date gross pay, and an employee history view lets you follow one person's pay across multiple years.
The second is the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal, or ITAP, at itap.illinois.gov. Its scope is narrower — employees of agencies under the Governor — but the detail is richer. A search returns the name, agency, position title, current gross pay rate, year-to-date pay, county of employment and employment status, and for anyone hired after 2010 it also lists Rutan status and veteran status. One statutory carve-out matters: identifying information for sworn law-enforcement officers is excluded.
The third covers higher education. The IBHE salary database at salarysearch.ibhe.org holds pay for administrators, faculty and civil-service staff at Illinois public universities.
| Database | Who it covers | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Comptroller salary database ("The Ledger") | Everyone paid through the centralized state payroll | Name, agency, title, year-to-date gross pay, multi-year history |
| ITAP (itap.illinois.gov) | Agencies under the Governor | Name, agency, title, current pay rate, year-to-date pay, county, status; Rutan and veteran status for post-2010 hires |
| IBHE salary search | Public university administrators, faculty and civil-service staff | Name, institution, title and salary |
Why the data is public in the first place
Three pieces of law make Illinois state pay transparent. The Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140, establishes that public employees' names, titles and salaries are public records. On top of that baseline, 20 ILCS 405/405-335 requires the Department of Central Management Services to publish the searchable ITAP database, and the State Comptroller Act requires the Comptroller's online ledger. The databases are not a courtesy that could quietly disappear; the state is obliged by statute to keep them running.
How big the state workforce is, and where the jobs are
Agencies under the Governor employed about 55,340 people in 2025, the largest headcount since 2008. The Civic Federation's count shows 53,860 filled positions in FY2024 and 61,101 budgeted for FY2026. For context, the workforce peaked around 70,000 in FY2001 and bottomed at 51,876 in FY2016.
The jobs cluster heavily. Human-services agencies account for roughly 40% of the under-Governor workforce and public-safety agencies about 30%. The single largest employer is the Department of Human Services, with more than 15,000 employees. DCFS has grown fastest, reaching 3,886 employees in 2025 — up 44% since 2019.
Salary ranges for every title and grade are published in the CMS Pay Plan. A concrete example: a Correctional Officer Trainee starts at $60,216 a year and moves to $64,704 as a full Correctional Officer once the three-month trainee period ends. Our average salary in Illinois guide gives the private-market baseline for comparison. Averaged across all entities paid through the Comptroller — about 219,000 payroll records — pay works out to roughly $88,818 for 2025. That figure is a third-party computation from Comptroller data by OpenPayrolls, not an official state statistic, and it blends part-year and part-time records with full-time salaries, so treat it as a rough average.
State of Illinois pay dates: semi-monthly, with a lag
Most State of Illinois employees are paid semi-monthly — twenty-four paychecks a year rather than the twenty-six a bi-weekly employer produces. Pay periods end mid-month and at month-end, and payday follows roughly five to seven days after each period closes. That lag surprises new hires: work done in the second half of one month is paid early in the next.
The exact dates are not the same for everyone. The Illinois Comptroller publishes an official pay schedule book each year at illinoiscomptroller.gov/state-agencies/accounting/pay-schedules, and every agency is assigned to a numbered schedule with its own list of paydays. The book also contains monthly and biweekly schedules for the groups that use them, so find your agency's schedule number and read your own payday list rather than assuming.
A $66,000 state salary is $2,750 per semi-monthly check, not the $2,538 a bi-weekly cycle would produce. Deductions quoted per month — insurance premiums especially — split across two checks. The Illinois paycheck calculator has a semi-monthly option, so set the frequency before comparing against your stub.
What comes out of a state paycheck that a private one never shows
The database figure is gross pay, and a state employee's route from gross to net runs through deductions most private-sector workers never see. The general path from gross pay to take-home is covered in our guide to how much tax comes out of a paycheck; here is what the state adds on top.
The SERS pension contribution
Nearly all direct state employees belong to the State Employees' Retirement System, and the contribution rate depends on the benefit formula, not on age or tier:
| Formula | Contribution | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Regular, coordinated with Social Security | 4.0% | Most state employees — 3.5% pension plus 0.5% survivors |
| Regular, noncoordinated | 8.0% | A small legacy group outside Social Security |
| Alternative formula, coordinated | 8.5% | Police, firefighters and other high-risk titles |
| Alternative formula, noncoordinated | 12.5% | High-risk titles outside Social Security |
Coordination is the detail people miss. Most SERS members are coordinated and therefore do pay the 6.2% Social Security tax alongside their pension contribution; only the legacy noncoordinated group escapes it. Tier status has no bearing on Social Security coverage — coordination is what decides it.
Group insurance, priced by salary tier
Health premiums under the State Employees Group Insurance Program are salary-tiered across seven tiers. FY2026 examples: an employee earning $30,200 or less pays $112 to $138 a month depending on the plan; one earning $60,701 to $75,900 pays $188 to $202; and anyone at $125,001 or above pays $274 to $314. Dental is a flat $16 a month for member-only coverage, and basic life insurance is free. On a pay stub these appear as pre-tax deductions — our Illinois pay stub guide explains how to read each line.
Deferred compensation — the 457(b)
The State of Illinois Deferred Compensation Plan is a 457(b), and new state employees are automatically enrolled. The 2026 contribution limits are $24,500 for those under 50, $32,500 at 50 and over, and $35,750 in the special catch-up window for ages 60 through 63.
Tier 1 versus Tier 2: same deduction, different pension
Both tiers contribute at identical rates, so the paycheck looks the same. The difference is entirely in the benefit:
| Tier 1 (before January 1, 2011) | Tier 2 (on or after January 1, 2011) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pensionable salary cap | None | $127,283.01 for 2025; $129,192.26 for 2026 — contributions stop above it |
| Normal retirement | Age 60 with 8 years, or Rule of 85 | Age 67 with 10 years; reduced from 62 |
| Final average salary | Highest 48 consecutive months of the last 120 | Highest 96 consecutive months of the last 120 |
| Annual increase | 3%, compounded | Lesser of 3% or half of CPI, simple |
Teachers and university staff play by different rules
Public school teachers belong to TRS, not SERS, and contribute 9.0% of creditable earnings — 7.5% for retirement, 0.5% for the annual increase and 1.0% for the death benefit — plus a contribution to the THIS health fund. Crucially, TRS members do not pay Social Security on TRS-covered earnings. University employees in SURS contribute 8.0% of pensionable earnings pre-tax and are likewise outside Social Security; those hired on or after April 1, 1986 pay the 1.45% Medicare tax. A teacher and a state office worker on the same gross salary therefore take home noticeably different amounts.
The taxes are the ordinary ones
Working for the state buys no tax break on the way in. State employees pay the same flat 4.95% Illinois income tax rate as every other worker in the state, with no local wage tax anywhere in Illinois, plus normal federal income tax. The break arrives at the other end: Illinois does not tax retirement income, so SERS, TRS and SURS pensions are entirely free of Illinois income tax once you retire.
Looking someone up responsibly — and reading the number right
Salary transparency exists so citizens can see how public money is spent, and the databases are legitimately useful for negotiating your own state salary, comparing agencies or researching a title before applying. They are a poor tool for harassment, and the law already draws the line — home addresses are exempt from disclosure, and sworn law-enforcement identities are excluded from ITAP by statute.
Also read the number for what it is. A database figure is gross pay before any withholding — before federal tax, the 4.95% Illinois tax, Social Security, Medicare, the pension contribution and insurance premiums. To convert a published salary into what actually lands in the bank, run it through the salary and take-home calculator with the semi-monthly frequency selected.
People also ask about State of Illinois salaries
Yes. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140), the names, position titles and salaries of public employees are public records. The data is also published proactively: the Comptroller's salary database covers everyone paid through the centralized state payroll, ITAP covers agencies under the Governor, and the IBHE database covers public university staff. No FOIA request is needed — all three databases are free and searchable online.
Start with the Illinois Comptroller's employee salary database at illinoiscomptroller.gov, which is the broadest source — it covers every person paid through the centralized state payroll and shows name, agency, position title and year-to-date gross pay, with a history view for earlier years. For employees of agencies under the Governor, the Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal at itap.illinois.gov adds the current pay rate, county of employment and employment status. University salaries live in a third database, at salarysearch.ibhe.org.
ITAP is the state's official transparency site, which 20 ILCS 405/405-335 requires the Department of Central Management Services to maintain. Its employee search covers agencies under the Governor and returns name, agency, position title, current gross pay rate, year-to-date pay, county of employment and employment status; post-2010 hires also show Rutan status and veteran status. By statute, identifying data for sworn law-enforcement officers is excluded. Employees of the legislature, the courts and other constitutional officers appear in the Comptroller's ledger instead.
Most state employees are paid semi-monthly — twenty-four paychecks a year, with pay periods ending mid-month and at month-end and payday landing roughly five to seven days after each period ends. The exact date depends on your agency: the Illinois Comptroller publishes an official pay schedule book each year, and every agency is assigned to a numbered schedule with its own payday list, alongside monthly and biweekly schedules for the groups that use them. Check your own agency's schedule rather than assuming.
Most do. The majority of SERS members are in the "coordinated" formula, which is integrated with Social Security — they pay the normal 6.2% Social Security tax on top of their 4.0% pension contribution. A small legacy group of noncoordinated members contributes 8.0% to the pension and pays no Social Security tax. Teachers in TRS and university employees in SURS are different: they do not pay Social Security on their covered earnings at all.
It depends on the formula. Regular SERS members coordinated with Social Security contribute 4.0% of pay — 3.5% toward the pension and 0.5% toward survivors' benefits. Regular noncoordinated members pay 8.0%. Members under the alternative formula for high-risk jobs such as police officers and firefighters pay 8.5% if coordinated and 12.5% if not. TRS teachers contribute 9.0% of creditable earnings plus a THIS health-fund contribution, and SURS university employees contribute 8.0% pre-tax. Tier 1 and Tier 2 members pay identical rates.
Tier 1 covers anyone whose membership began before January 1, 2011; Tier 2 covers everyone since. Tier 1 has no cap on pensionable salary, allows retirement at 60 with eight years of service or under the Rule of 85, averages the highest 48 consecutive months of the final 120, and grants a 3% compounded annual increase. Tier 2 caps pensionable salary at $129,192.26 for 2026 — contributions stop above the cap — sets normal retirement at 67 with ten years, averages the highest 96 months, and pays the lesser of 3% or half of CPI, simple rather than compounded.
Agencies under the Governor employed about 55,340 people in 2025, the highest headcount since 2008, and the Comptroller's payroll runs to roughly 219,000 records once universities, boards and the other constitutional offices are included. The Civic Federation counted 53,860 filled positions in FY2024 and 61,101 budgeted positions for FY2026. The under-Governor workforce peaked around 70,000 in FY2001 and bottomed out at 51,876 in FY2016.
Sources
- Illinois Comptroller — Employee Salary Database ("The Ledger")
- Illinois Transparency and Accountability Portal (ITAP)
- IBHE — Illinois public university salary search
- Illinois Comptroller — official pay schedule book
- State Employees' Retirement System of Illinois (SERS)
- Illinois Department of Central Management Services — Pay Plan and group insurance
- Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140
Figures reflect published 2025 and 2026 rates and are for general information. Pension formulas, insurance tiers and pay schedules vary by agency, bargaining unit and hire date — confirm your own numbers with your agency HR office, SERS, TRS or SURS. The average-pay figure is a third-party estimate computed from Comptroller data, not an official state statistic.