Psychiatrist Salary in Illinois 2026,
$258,740 Median | BLS Data by City

Illinois psychiatrists earn a median $258,740 a year, $124.40 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $166,750 and $379,160 and a full range of $134,770 to $447,930. That median is 8.2% below the $281,870 national figure, but the width of the Illinois range matters more than its centre for anyone choosing between posts here.

Springfield, at $413,890, dramatically ahead of Chicago-Naperville-Elgin at $258,750; the Illinois statewide figure is $258,740. A gap of that size between a state capital and the largest metro is a recruitment signal — downstate Illinois pays a large premium because the psychiatrist pool willing to work there is small.

You get a physician licence, not a psychiatry one. The Medical Licensing Board at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issues the Illinois physician and surgeon licence following medical school, completion of accredited residency training and the USMLE or COMLEX sequence. Board certification in psychiatry is issued separately by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and is an employer requirement rather than a state one.

Yes, and the wage data shows it. Illinois's location quotient of 0.79 means fewer psychiatrists per worker than the US average, and large parts of downstate Illinois are federally designated mental health professional shortage areas. That shortage is the direct cause of the $379,160 seventy-fifth percentile: the posts that are hardest to fill are the ones that pay most.

Considerably. Illinois taxes all income at 4.95% with no graduated brackets, so a psychiatrist at the Illinois 90th percentile of $447,930 faces the same rate as one at the median of $258,740. Compared with a graduated-rate neighbour, the difference at the top of this occupation's range is real money, and it is one of the quieter arguments for taking a downstate Illinois post over an equivalent elsewhere in the region.

Because two labour markets share one code. Chicago's academic medical centres employ psychiatrists on salaries that trade cash against protected research and teaching time, and they can do so because the city is where psychiatrists want to live — that population sits near the $134,770 tenth percentile and around the $166,750 twenty-fifth. Downstate state facilities, correctional health and rural community mental health centres cannot recruit on lifestyle, so they recruit on money, and they populate the $379,160 seventy-fifth percentile and above.

Illinois employs only about 870 psychiatrists in the OEWS survey frame, which is a small base for a state this size, and the published metro detail is limited to two areas. A median built on a sample that small moves more between vintages than a large-occupation figure does, and the Springfield row in particular reflects a narrow set of employers. Treat the direction — wide spread, downstate premium — as more reliable than any single number.

It is the most important recent change in this market. Illinois's shortage areas are geographic, and telepsychiatry lets a psychiatrist licensed in Illinois serve them without relocating, which has both eased access and compressed some of the geographic premium. It also creates a supplementary-income route: a Chicago-based psychiatrist holding an Illinois licence can add downstate telepsychiatry sessions, which is one realistic path from the state median of $258,740 toward the upper quartile without leaving the city.