Are Illinois State Legislators Overpaid?

Illinois Legislators have the fifth highest salary in the nation.

Prairie State politicians remain among the best compensated in the nation, according to a pay survey completed by the Illinois Policy Institute.

Illinois state representatives and senators earn a base salary of $67,836,which is the fifth-highest legislator salary in the country. Only California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania pay their legislators more.

Out of all of the states that pay their delegates a base annual salary, the average pay is $34,830.77 (Illinois’s base annual pay is 95 percent higher). Other states pay their legislators based on the days they spend in session. In the case of Utah, Texas and New Mexico, legislators receive no salary.

Illinois state representatives and senators earn around 47 percent more than the average Illinois resident, who earns $46,110 a year according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupations in Illinois receiving comparable compensation to legislators include microbiologists, physics professors, credit analysts and tax examiners.

The data used for the legislator compensation survey was compiled in June 2010 by contacting the state legislatures of all fifty states.

Average legislator salary was found by excluding states that paid per day, per week or did not pay salaries. Lump sum payments were averaged over the biennium as were salaries that differed over the two year term.