Pharmacist Salary in Illinois 2026,
$139,080 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois pharmacists earn a median $139,080 a year, $66.86 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $126,270 and $162,280 and a full range of $98,970 to $169,430. That is 1.3% below the $140,910 national median, taxed at a flat 4.95% with no local income tax.

Decatur at $145,960, then Kankakee at $140,960, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $140,880, Peoria at $139,900 and Champaign-Urbana at $139,270. Every published metro sits above the statewide median of $139,080, and Decatur leading is a recruitment premium — a smaller downstate market paying above Chicago to attract pharmacists.

Through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and its Board of Pharmacy. The requirements are a PharmD from an accredited programme, the Board's internship hours, the NAPLEX and the Illinois Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination — a state law paper every applicant must pass, including experienced pharmacists transferring in. Illinois also requires a designated pharmacist-in-charge for each licensed pharmacy.

A flat 4.95% on all income, with a $2,925 personal exemption allowance in 2026, and no local income tax anywhere in Illinois. At the median of $139,080 and at the $162,280 seventy-fifth percentile the rate is identical, which is a meaningful advantage over graduated schedules in several neighbouring states at the same salary.

Because relief and part-time practice is a substantial part of the Illinois retail pharmacy market, and those arrangements annualise low. The $98,970 tenth percentile largely reflects pharmacists working reduced schedules or covering on a relief basis rather than anyone doing full-time work at that rate. A full-time Illinois staff pharmacist should read the $126,270 twenty-fifth percentile as the realistic floor.

Because pharmacist pay is set by chain and health-system compensation structures that operate at national or regional scale rather than by local labour markets. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $140,880, Peoria at $139,900 and Champaign-Urbana at $139,270 sit within two thousand dollars of each other for exactly that reason. Decatur at $145,960 and Kankakee at $140,960 edge above because smaller downstate markets need to bid to fill posts, not because the work differs.

The published range is compressed at the top — from a $139,080 median to a $169,430 ninetieth percentile is a narrow spread for a doctoral profession — and that is real: pharmacy in Illinois offers limited salary headroom without moving into management or specialty practice. The $98,970 tenth percentile, meanwhile, is not an entry-level full-time rate but part-time and relief work annualising low. Neither end describes a career path.

Pharmacist-in-charge designation, setting and geography. Serving as the designated pharmacist-in-charge carries personal regulatory accountability under Board of Pharmacy rules and usually a differential. Hospital and health-system practice in the Chicago academic centres pays differently from retail chain work and offers board-certified specialisation as the route upward. And downstate and rural Illinois posts pay recruitment premiums — the mechanism behind Decatur at $145,960 — with the flat 4.95% state rate applying to all of it.