Medical Assistant Salary in Illinois 2026,
$46,090 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois medical assistants earn a median $46,090 a year, $22.16 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $38,970 and $49,460 and a full range of $36,400 to $56,590. The top end is longer than most states offer this occupation, which reflects the scale of Chicago's health system ambulatory networks.

Chicago-Naperville-Elgin pays the most at $47,270, then Springfield at $45,140, Peoria at $44,680, Rockford at $44,390 and Decatur at $43,060. The Chicago premium of about four thousand dollars over the downstate metros arrives with no local income tax attached, since Illinois cities do not tax wages.

No. Illinois has no licence, registration or state-defined scope of practice for medical assistants. What an Illinois medical assistant may do is delegated by the supervising physician within the limits of the state's Medical Practice Act and Nurse Practice Act. Employers use national certification — most commonly the CMA or RMA — as the hiring credential in place of any state requirement.

Because Illinois ambulatory practices have historically staffed clinical support with licensed practical nurses and registered nurses more heavily than with medical assistants, a pattern common in the older industrial Midwest and Northeast. A location quotient of 0.63 reflects that. The consequence is fewer medical assistant posts but less downward pressure on the rate for the ones that exist.

The state 90th percentile of $56,590, reached through clinical coordination or lead medical assistant roles in a Chicago-area health system. That is a genuinely higher ceiling than neighbouring states offer — Ohio's equivalent is $48,560 — but the number of such posts is small, and beyond them the realistic move is bridging into a licensed role.

Mixed, but better than it sounds. Fewer posts means a tighter job market and more competition for openings, particularly outside Chicago. But it also means Illinois practices are not using medical assistants as an interchangeable low-cost staffing layer to the extent Sun Belt markets do, which supports both the rate and the length of the top end. An Illinois medical assistant job is generally a better-paid job than the national picture suggests.

Specialty practices with procedural volume — dermatology, cardiology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology — plus surgical and infusion centres and urgent care with evening and weekend coverage. Those sit near the state 75th percentile of $49,460. Chicago-area academic and integrated health system ambulatory networks pay above independent practices at every level.

Bridging into a licensed role, most often practical nursing or radiologic technology through Illinois's community college system, or moving into clinical coordination. Because Illinois ambulatory practices already lean on licensed nursing staff, the LPN and RN routes are especially well trodden here and employers frequently support them, which makes medical assisting a genuine on-ramp rather than a dead end.