Nurse Practitioner Salary in Illinois 2026,
$130,680 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois nurse practitioners earn a median $130,680 a year, $62.83 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $113,320 and $142,000 and a full range of $102,440 to $161,470. That is 1.2% below the $132,300 national median, taxed at Illinois's flat 4.95%.

Bloomington at $139,190, then Champaign-Urbana at $137,100, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $131,740, Springfield at $130,200 and Peoria at $128,920. Two downstate metros paying above Chicago is the signal here: central Illinois health systems compete for a small local NP pool while Chicago draws from a much deeper metropolitan supply.

Yes, but conditionally. An Illinois APRN begins in collaborative practice under a written agreement with a physician, and may apply to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation for full practice authority after completing at least 250 hours of continuing education or training and 4,000 hours of clinical experience in a collaborative relationship. It is a staged model rather than day-one independence, and planning for the hours requirement is part of an Illinois NP career.

A flat 4.95% on all income, with a $2,925 personal exemption allowance in 2026 and no local income tax anywhere in Illinois including Chicago. At the state median of $130,680 that is a lower effective rate than a graduated-rate state would apply at the same income, and the advantage grows toward the $161,470 ninetieth percentile.

Psychiatric mental health, acute care and procedural specialties, plus downstate recruitment markets. Psychiatric mental health NPs are the scarcest specialty in Illinois as in most states; hospital acute care practice carries call and shift premiums; and central Illinois systems such as those behind Bloomington's $139,190 pay to attract clinicians. Full practice authority widens the range of settings available and is generally a prerequisite for the independent and rural roles at the top of the band.

Supply, straightforwardly. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $131,740 draws on a metropolitan area with several nurse practitioner programmes and a large clinical workforce. Bloomington at $139,190, Champaign-Urbana at $137,100 and Springfield at $130,200 serve regional health systems covering large rural catchments with far fewer local graduates, and they must bid above the Chicago rate to fill posts. That is the same pattern that shows up in physical therapy and physician assistant data in this state, and it is one of the clearest features of the Illinois healthcare labour market.

The Illinois band is narrow relative to the profession's actual variation — $102,440 to $161,470 — and it does not separate specialties, which differ substantially. A psychiatric mental health NP and a primary care NP appear in the same distribution despite materially different markets. The figure also does not capture productivity bonuses, which are common in Illinois primary care and specialty practice and can move real earnings well above a base salary near the $130,680 median.

Indirectly but significantly. Full practice authority does not itself carry a pay grade, but it removes the requirement for a written collaborative agreement, which changes what an employer needs to arrange and what settings an NP can work in — including independent and rural practice where collaborating physicians are scarce. Employers in downstate Illinois value it accordingly. Combined with a specialty certification, it is the practical route from the $130,680 median toward the $142,000 seventy-fifth percentile.