Physician Assistant Salary in Illinois 2026,
$131,950 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois physician assistants earn a median $131,950 a year, $63.44 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $122,780 and $145,600 and a full range of $105,160 to $162,330. That is 2.9% below the $135,880 national median, taxed at Illinois's flat 4.95%.

Champaign-Urbana at $139,950, then Springfield at $133,750, Peoria at $133,170, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $127,940 and Rockford at $127,800. Three downstate metros paying above Chicago is a clear signal: central Illinois health systems face a much thinner PA supply than the metropolitan area and bid accordingly.

Through a written collaborative agreement rather than a supervision requirement. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation licenses physician assistants after an accredited programme and the PANCE, and the collaborating physician and PA define scope of practice and prescriptive authority — including controlled substances — in the written agreement between them. That model gives Illinois PAs more practical latitude than states operating on direct supervision.

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 $131,950 that compares favourably with graduated schedules at the same income, and the same rate applies at the $162,330 ninetieth percentile.

The location quotient of 0.6 reflects a state that has historically staffed advanced practice roles with nurse practitioners and residents more heavily than with PAs, alongside a limited number of PA programmes relative to its population. Against BLS's 20.4% national growth projection, that low base is more opportunity than warning: Illinois health systems, particularly downstate, are recruiting actively and paying above the Chicago rate to do it.

It means scope is negotiated rather than prescribed. Under Illinois law the collaborating physician and the physician assistant set out in writing what the PA may do, including prescriptive authority for controlled substances, and the agreement can be broad or narrow depending on the setting and the relationship. In practice that gives an experienced Illinois PA in a specialty practice considerable latitude, and it makes the quality of the collaborative relationship a real determinant of both job satisfaction and earning potential.

The Illinois sample is small at about 3,790 physician assistants, and the occupation pools specialties with materially different markets — surgical and emergency medicine PAs earn well above primary care PAs, and the published distribution does not separate them. The band of $105,160 to $162,330 is also narrower than the profession's real variation once call, productivity bonuses and surgical first-assist fees are included, none of which the wage figure captures.

Specialty, call and geography. Surgical first assisting, emergency medicine and procedural specialties pay above primary care, and the difference widens with call obligations. Hospital medicine roles carry shift differentials. And Illinois's geographic distribution is unusually consequential — Champaign-Urbana at $139,950, Springfield at $133,750 and Peoria at $133,170 all pay above Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $127,940, so relocating downstate is a straightforward route from the $131,950 median toward the $145,600 seventy-fifth percentile.