Illinois Wage Garnishment Calculator
Work out the maximum a judgment creditor can deduct from your paycheck in Illinois. The calculator runs both statutory tests — 15% of gross weekly wages and the 45× minimum wage floor — and applies whichever protects more of your pay.
Illinois Wage Garnishment Calculator
Your disposable earnings fall at or below 45 times the Illinois minimum wage, so an ordinary judgment creditor cannot deduct anything from this paycheck.
- Test A — 15% of gross weekly wages$0.00
- Test B — disposable above 45 × $15.00 protected floor $675.00$0.00
- Weekly garnishment $0.00
- Gross weekly equivalent$0.00
- Disposable earnings, weekly$0.00
- Disposable earnings, per period$0.00
- Child support withholding$0.00
- Left after garnishment$0.00
The Illinois wage deduction rule
Illinois protects wages more aggressively than most states. Section 12-803 of the Code of Civil Procedure sets the ceiling as the lesser of two figures, calculated on a weekly basis:
Test A — 15% of gross weekly wages.
Test B — the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 45 times the greater of the federal or Illinois minimum wage, which is 45 × $15.00 = $675.
The creditor gets whichever is smaller. If disposable earnings are $675 a week or less, the creditor gets nothing.
Notice which figure each test uses. Test A works from gross pay; Test B works from disposable earnings, defined as gross minus legally required withholding — income tax and FICA only. Voluntary deductions such as a 401(k) contribution or a health premium do not reduce disposable earnings, however much they reduce the money in your account.
Worked examples
| Gross weekly | Required withholding | Disposable | Test A (15%) | Test B (over $675) | Garnishment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $600 | $105.68 | $494.32 | $90.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| $800 | $154.88 | $645.12 | $120.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| $900 | $179.48 | $720.52 | $135.00 | $45.52 | $45.52 |
| $1,000 | $204.08 | $795.92 | $150.00 | $120.92 | $120.92 |
| $1,200 | $253.28 | $946.72 | $180.00 | $271.72 | $180.00 |
| $1,500 | $349.19 | $1,150.81 | $225.00 | $475.81 | $225.00 |
The pattern is worth internalizing: at lower incomes the 45× floor does the protecting and the creditor gets nothing; as pay rises there is a crossover a little above $1,000 gross a week, beyond which the flat 15% becomes the binding limit.
How a wage deduction proceeding works in Illinois
- The creditor sues and wins. No garnishment is possible for ordinary consumer debt until there is a judgment.
- A wage deduction summons is issued and served on your employer, along with a wage deduction notice sent to you.
- Your employer answers under oath, stating your wages and calculating the deduction, and begins withholding.
- You may claim exemptions on or before the return date. This is the step people miss, and the deadline is real.
- A deduction order is entered and the employer forwards the money until the judgment, plus interest and costs, is satisfied.
Illinois judgments accrue interest while they are outstanding — 5% a year on a consumer-debt judgment of $25,000 or less, and 9% otherwise — so a garnishment at the statutory maximum on a large judgment can run for years. That is often the strongest practical argument for negotiating a settlement instead.
Child support and other priority orders
Child support does not use the 15% rule. Illinois follows the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act percentages, applied to disposable earnings:
| Situation | Maximum of disposable earnings |
|---|---|
| Supporting another spouse or child | 50% |
| Supporting another spouse or child, arrears over 12 weeks | 55% |
| Not supporting another spouse or child | 60% |
| Not supporting another spouse or child, arrears over 12 weeks | 65% |
Priority matters when several orders compete for the same paycheck. Child support comes first, then federal tax levies, then state levies, then ordinary creditor garnishments. If a support order already consumes the available wages, an ordinary creditor may receive nothing at all.
Income a creditor cannot reach
- Social Security retirement, disability and SSI payments
- Veterans' benefits
- Unemployment compensation
- Workers' compensation benefits
- Public assistance and TANF
- Most pension and retirement plan distributions
- Life insurance proceeds and annuity payments in many circumstances
These protections can be lost through commingling. Once an exempt payment is deposited alongside wages in a general bank account, tracing it becomes your burden. Keeping exempt income in a separate account is the simplest way to preserve the protection.
Federal student loan administrative wage garnishment takes up to 15% of disposable pay without a court judgment. IRS levies use exemption tables based on filing status and dependents rather than a percentage. The Illinois Department of Revenue can also levy wages for unpaid state tax. None of these are limited by the 735 ILCS 5/12-803 formula, so the calculator above does not model them.
What to do if your wages are being garnished
Check first whether the amount is even correct — employers calculate wage deductions by hand more often than you would expect, and the gross-versus-disposable distinction is a frequent source of error. Run your own figures through the calculator above and compare against the pay stub.
Then consider the underlying debt. If you were never properly served with the original lawsuit, the judgment may be vulnerable. If the income is exempt, file the claim of exemption within the deadline. If neither applies, a direct payment arrangement with the creditor usually costs less than the statutory maximum, because creditors discount for certainty. Free help is available from Illinois Legal Aid Online and from the legal aid organization serving your county.
If a garnishment is already reducing your pay, the Illinois paycheck calculator can show what remains after tax and the deduction together, which makes budgeting around it considerably easier.
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See what a bonus is worth after the flat 22% federal supplemental rate and Illinois withholding.
Self-employment tax calculator
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Unemployment benefits calculator
Estimate your IDES weekly benefit amount from your base-period wages and dependent status.
Wage garnishment calculator
Work out the most a judgment creditor can take under the Illinois 15% and 45× minimum wage tests.
People also ask about wage garnishment in Illinois
An ordinary judgment creditor may take the lesser of two amounts: 15% of your gross weekly wages, or the amount by which your disposable earnings exceed 45 times the minimum wage. With the Illinois minimum wage at $15.00, that protected floor is $675 a week. Whichever test produces the smaller number is what the employer must deduct — and if your disposable earnings are $675 a week or less, nothing can be taken at all.
Under 735 ILCS 5/12-803, disposable earnings are your gross pay minus amounts required by law to be withheld — federal and Illinois income tax and FICA. Voluntary deductions do not count: a 401(k) contribution, health insurance premium, union due or charitable deduction does not reduce disposable earnings for garnishment purposes, even though it reduces the money you actually receive. This trips people up, because it means a heavily deducted paycheck can still be garnished on a much larger notional figure.
Yes, considerably. Federal law under the Consumer Credit Protection Act allows up to 25% of disposable earnings and protects only 30 times the federal minimum wage — $217.50 a week. Illinois caps the deduction at 15% of gross and protects 45 times the state minimum wage, which is $675 a week. When state law is more protective it governs, so the Illinois limits apply to Illinois employees.
Child support runs on the federal CCPA percentages rather than the 15% rule, and the limits are far higher: 50% of disposable earnings if you support another spouse or child, 60% if you do not, each rising by five points to 55% or 65% when support is more than 12 weeks in arrears. A child support income withholding order also takes priority over any ordinary creditor garnishment competing for the same wages.
Ordinary creditors — credit cards, medical debt, personal loans — must first sue you, obtain a judgment, and then serve a wage deduction summons on your employer. That process gives you notice and an opportunity to respond. Some obligations skip the court entirely: federal student loan administrative wage garnishment, IRS levies, Illinois Department of Revenue levies, and child support income withholding orders can all reach your wages without a separate judgment.
Several categories cannot be reached by ordinary creditors: Social Security and SSI, veterans' benefits, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, public assistance, and most pension and retirement benefits. Illinois also provides a $4,000 personal property wildcard exemption that can be applied to money in a bank account. Exemptions are not automatic — you must claim them, on or before the return date shown on the wage deduction summons, or you can lose the protection.
Practical options, roughly in order of how often they work: file a claim of exemption if the income or the amount is protected; challenge the underlying judgment if you were never properly served; negotiate a payment plan directly with the creditor, who often prefers voluntary payment to the paperwork; or file for bankruptcy, which triggers an automatic stay that halts most garnishments immediately. A consumer attorney or a legal aid organization such as Illinois Legal Aid Online can tell you quickly which route fits.
Federal law protects you from discharge because of a garnishment arising from a single debt. That protection does not extend to a second or subsequent debt, and Illinois adds no broader protection of its own. In practice most employers simply process the deduction, but the legal protection is narrower than people assume.
Sources
- 735 ILCS 5/12-803 — Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, wage deduction
- US Department of Labor Fact Sheet #30 — the Consumer Credit Protection Act
- Illinois Legal Aid Online — defending wage garnishments
This calculator is an educational estimate, not legal advice, and it does not model tax levies, student loan garnishment or competing orders. If your wages are being garnished, speak to a consumer attorney or a legal aid organization about your specific circumstances.