2026 Illinois Tipped Minimum Wage
The 2026 Illinois Tipped Minimum Wage is $9.
Effective 2026-01-01Source: Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)Verified 2026-08-30
Compared with 2025
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2025.
| Item | 2025 | 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum cash wage | $9 | $9 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers of tipped employees in Illinois. The cash wage is the part of the minimum wage the employer pays directly. The rest may be met by the employee's tips, up to the maximum tip credit the same row of the table states, and the table sets out separately how much an employee must receive in tips to count as a tipped employee at all.
What changed this year, and why
The Wage and Hour Division's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, in the version last revised July 1, 2026, gives $9.00 per hour as the minimum cash wage an employer may pay a tipped employee in Illinois. The table carries only its own revision date and never dates the rate, so this page reports the figure as in force as of that revision rather than claiming an effective date no document states.
Common questions
- What is the tipped minimum wage in Illinois in 2026?
- $9.00 per hour in cash wages. That is what the Department of Labor's table of minimum wages for tipped employees, last revised July 1, 2026, gives as the minimum cash wage for a tipped employee in Illinois. Tips make up the remainder of the applicable minimum wage, up to the maximum tip credit stated in the same row.
- What if tips do not bring the employee up to the full minimum wage?
- The employer pays the difference. A tip credit is a credit against the minimum wage the employer already owes, not a lower wage in its own right, so an employee whose cash wage and tips together fall short of the applicable minimum wage is owed the shortfall in wages.
- Where does the figure on this page come from?
- From Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees, the table the Wage and Hour Division publishes by state, in the version last revised July 1, 2026. The row it was read from is quoted on this page, and the snapshot it was verified against is the one captured for this record.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Tips needed per hour takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
Who counts as a tipped employee
In Illinois, a person counts as a tipped employee if they work in an occupation where they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips. The $30 threshold is measured in tips actually received by the worker, not tips the employer estimates or attributes to them. If the tips fall below that amount, the worker is not a tipped employee for purposes of the FLSA and the employer must pay the full minimum wage, with no tip credit allowed. The occupation itself must be one in which tipping is the custom—receiving tips only occasionally or in a role that is not traditionally tipped does not qualify someone under this rule. Because Illinois requires employers to pay a minimum cash wage of $9 to tipped employees, most tipped workers in the state already receive wages above the federal cash wage floor, but the $30-a-month tip test still determines whether the worker is classified as a tipped employee in the first place.
Under the FLSA, a tipped employee is an employee engaged in an occupation in which they customarily and regularly receive more than $30 a month in tips.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
What a tip credit is, and the cash wage underneath it
In Illinois, the tip credit is the amount your employer can count from your tips toward its minimum wage obligation. The credit equals the difference between the direct cash wage your employer pays you and the full minimum wage that would otherwise apply. For 2026, Illinois requires a minimum cash wage of $9, so employers paying tipped employees at that rate take a smaller credit than they would under the lower federal cash wage. Regardless of the credit size, your employer must still ensure that your cash wages plus your tips bring you up to at least the full minimum wage for every workweek. If they do not, the employer cannot rely on the tip credit for that period.
An employer can take an FLSA tip credit equal to the difference between the direct wage, or the cash wage it pays directly to the tipped employee, and the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When the tips do not get you to the minimum wage
In Illinois, if your tips combined with your employer's direct cash wage do not bring you up to the full minimum wage in a given workweek, your employer must pay the shortfall out of its own pocket. This is called the "make-up" obligation. It applies on a workweek-by-workweek basis, so a slow week where tips are low does not carry over to offset a busier week. The employer cannot shift the risk of a bad week onto you. Illinois sets its minimum cash wage for tipped employees at $9, which already exceeds the federal floor, so the gap that tips must fill is narrower than in states that use the lower federal cash wage. But if your cash wage plus your tips still falls short of Illinois's full minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference before issuing your paycheck. You do not have to request this; it is the employer's responsibility to track it each pay period.
If an employee’s tips combined with the employer’s direct (or cash) wages do not equal the minimum hourly wage of $7.25 per hour in each workweek, the employer must make up the difference.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
The notice an employer owes you before it takes the credit
In Illinois, before your employer can take a tip credit against your wages, it must give you notice of certain facts about how the credit works. This notice must be provided before the credit is applied, not after the fact. Your employer must tell you the cash wage it is paying you, the amount of the tip credit it is claiming, that the credit cannot exceed the tips you actually received, that you keep all of your tips except for a valid tip pool, and that the credit will not apply unless you have been informed of these provisions. Notice can be given orally or in writing, but if the employer fails to provide all five items, it loses the right to take the tip credit altogether and must pay you the full minimum wage. Illinois requires employers to pay tipped workers a minimum cash wage of $9, so the notice must reflect that state-level cash wage rather than the lower federal amount.
Employers must provide the following information to tipped employees before taking a tip credit under the FLSA:
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
When state law gives more than the federal rule
In Illinois, when the state's own labor law provides stronger protections for tipped workers than the federal FLSA, the employer must follow whichever rule is more favorable to the employee. Illinois has its own minimum cash wage for tipped employees of $9, which is higher than the federal direct wage floor. Because the state law sets a higher cash wage, an employer in Illinois must comply with the Illinois standard. In practice this means that the tip credit available to Illinois employers is smaller than the credit available in states that follow only the federal rule, since the employer must pay more in direct wages before the credit can apply. If the federal rule ever changed to be more protective on some point, the employer would have to follow that more protective rule instead. The principle is simple: the worker always gets the benefit of whichever law, state or federal, gives them the higher wage or the stronger protection.
When state law differs from the federal FLSA, an employer must comply with the standard most protective to employees.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Your employer, your manager and your supervisor may not keep your tips
In Illinois, your employer, your manager, and your supervisor may not keep any of your tips, no matter what. This rule applies whether the employer takes a tip credit or pays you the full minimum wage directly. The employer cannot divert your tips to cover operating costs, to share with back-of-house staff who do not customarily receive tips, or for any other purpose. Managers and supervisors are broadly defined to include anyone whose primary duty is managing a department, who regularly directs the work of two or more employees, or who has hiring or firing authority. A manager who personally serves customers may keep tips from those customers for that direct service, but may not receive tips from a tip pool or take tips earned by other workers. Illinois's minimum cash wage of $9 applies regardless of this rule, so tipped employees are already guaranteed a baseline wage before tips are even considered. The prohibition on keeping tips is an additional protection layered on top of the wage floor.
Regardless of whether an employer takes a tip credit, the FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose, whether directly or through a tip pool.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Which tip pools you can be made to join
In Illinois, if your employer takes a tip credit, it can only require you to contribute tips to a pool that is limited to employees in occupations where people customarily and regularly receive tips. These are roles like waiters, bellhops, counter personnel who serve customers, bussers, and service bartenders. The employer cannot put your tips into a pool that includes dishwashers, cooks, or other staff who do not typically earn tips, as long as the employer is using a tip credit. The employer itself may not take any portion of the pooled tips, and managers and supervisors are barred from participating in the pool. Illinois requires employers to pay tipped employees a minimum cash wage of $9, so any tip pool arrangement must still operate within that state wage floor. If an employer pays the full minimum wage in cash instead of taking a tip credit, different pooling rules apply that may allow non-tipped staff to participate.
An employer that takes a tip credit can require tipped employees to contribute tips only to a tip pool which is limited to employees in occupations in which they customarily and regularly receive tips, such as waiters, bellhops, counter personnel (who serve customers), bussers, and service bartenders.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
Doing two jobs for one employer
In Illinois, if you work two different jobs for the same employer, you are a tipped employee only for the job in which you customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips. For example, a hotel maintenance worker who also works as a server is a tipped employee only for the server role. The employer cannot take a tip credit for hours you spend working as a maintenance person or in any other non-tipped occupation. For those hours, you must receive the full minimum wage. Illinois requires a minimum cash wage of $9 for tipped employees, and that rate or higher applies to your tipped occupation. For your non-tipped occupation, the full Illinois minimum wage applies. The dual-job rule prevents employers from blending your tipped and non-tipped hours into a single calculation that would let them pay you less than you are owed for the non-tipped work.
In such a situation the employee, if they customarily and regularly receive at least $30 a month in tips for their work as a server, is a tipped employee only with respect to their employment as a server.
Fact Sheet #15: Tipped Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees (DOL)
- Minimum cash wage
Illinois $15.00 40% of the applicable minimum wage ($6.00) $9.00 Not specified
Other years
Every Illinois Tipped Minimum Wage year · Tipped Minimum Wage in every state