Mayor salaries in Illinois are set locally by ordinance and run from a few thousand dollars a year in small villages to roughly $221,000 in Chicago. The number in any given town depends on three things: population and budget, whether the position is treated as full-time or part-time, and what the local council has been willing to approve. State law leaves the dollar figure to each municipality and forbids changing it during an elected official’s current term.1Justia Law. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5 – Establishment
What Illinois Mayors Actually Earn
Chicago sits at the top. The mayor there earns approximately $221,000 a year, a figure tied to running a city of about 2.7 million people with a multi-billion dollar budget. Other large Illinois cities also pay six figures for what are, in practice, full-time executive jobs.
At the other end, small villages pay a stipend rather than a salary. Moweaqua, for example, pays its mayor $750 a month, or $9,000 a year.2American Legal Publishing. Moweaqua, IL Code of Ordinances 30.46 – Salaries of Village Officials Plenty of Illinois villages fall in that neighborhood or lower. When the pay is under $10,000, the role is effectively volunteer work with a modest acknowledgment attached.
Mid-size municipalities land between the extremes. Wealthier suburbs tend to pay more to attract experienced candidates; economically tighter communities keep the number low. Two towns of similar size can pay very differently, because the binding constraint is always the local budget and what the council chooses to prioritize.
What Drives the Pay Level
Full-Time vs. Part-Time
This is the single biggest factor. Illinois law does not set a population trigger that automatically makes a mayor’s job full-time. Each municipality decides for itself. Large cities with complex budgets and thousands of employees need a full-time mayor and pay accordingly. Small towns treat the role as part-time and assume the mayor holds a separate job. Two municipalities of comparable population can end up in different categories based on how the community has historically structured the office, which is why looking at population alone will mislead you.
Home Rule Status
The Illinois Constitution automatically grants home rule to any municipality above 25,000 people, and smaller communities can opt in by referendum.3Justia Law. Illinois Constitution Article VII – Local Government Home rule cities have broader authority to structure their executive offices, set compensation, and design benefit packages. Non-home rule communities, which are the majority, follow the Municipal Code more closely and have less room to maneuver. Even a home rule city, though, cannot change an elected official’s pay so it takes effect during the current term.
Local Budget
No ordinance overrides arithmetic. A municipality with a small tax base cannot pay its mayor a big-city salary regardless of what the council might wish. This is the quiet reason small-village pay stays small: the money is not there.
How the Salary Gets Set and Locked In
The Illinois Municipal Code gives each city, village, and incorporated town the power to fix its mayor’s compensation by ordinance.1Justia Law. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5 – Establishment There is no statewide pay scale and no minimum. Whatever the local governing body decides, within its budget, is the number.
Passing a salary ordinance requires a majority of all council members then holding office, and the mayor’s own vote counts toward that total.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/3.1-40-40 – Passage of Ordinances A mayor who vetoes a salary ordinance can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of all alderpersons then in office.5Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/3.1-40-50 – Reconsideration; Passing Over Veto In practice the mayor has a hand in setting their own pay, but the council keeps the final word.
The timing rule matters more than the vote count for most residents. The Municipal Code prohibits increasing or decreasing an elected officer’s compensation so the change applies while that officer is still in office.1Justia Law. Illinois Code 65 ILCS 5/3.1-50-5 – Establishment Any raise or cut has to be enacted before the new term begins. Once the term starts, the number is locked. That protects incumbents from retaliatory cuts and prevents mid-term self-dealing. Appointed officers are treated differently: their pay can be raised mid-term but not reduced.
Benefits Beyond Base Salary
Base pay is not the whole picture in larger municipalities. Full-time mayors of bigger cities often receive a benefits package similar to what other senior city employees get.
Retirement is the biggest piece. Illinois municipal officials may be eligible to participate in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund on an elective basis, and many local governments also offer 457(b) deferred compensation plans that let participants set aside pre-tax income for retirement.6Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Amounts Relating to Retirement Plans and IRAs Whether a mayor qualifies depends on how the position is classified locally.
Travel costs are usually covered separately. Municipalities that expect their mayor to travel for city business either reimburse mileage, often pegged to the IRS standard rate, or provide a monthly vehicle allowance. Overnight travel for conferences or legislative business is generally reimbursed at rates in line with federal per diem figures.7General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates
Health insurance follows the size of the job. Full-time mayors in larger municipalities typically receive coverage on the same terms as city employees, sometimes including dental and vision. Part-time mayors in small villages rarely get health benefits at all. It comes down to what the local ordinance provides and what the budget will bear.
A Note on Social Security and Medicare
Federal payroll rules do not automatically apply to a mayoral salary the way they do to a private-sector paycheck. Medicare coverage is mandatory for state and local government employees hired after March 31, 1986, so the 1.45% Medicare tax will apply to any mayor elected since then, with the municipality paying a matching share.8Social Security Administration. Mandatory Social Security and Medicare Coverage
Social Security is a different question. Whether the 6.2% Social Security tax comes out of a mayor’s pay depends on whether that specific position is covered under a Section 218 Agreement between Illinois and the Social Security Administration.9Social Security Administration. Section 218 Agreements These agreements cover positions, not individuals. If the mayor’s position is not covered, no Social Security tax is withheld and no Social Security credits are earned for those years of service. This is worth checking before assuming a mayoral salary builds retirement benefits the same way a private-sector job does.
Looking Up a Specific Mayor’s Salary
Salary ordinances are public records. The council debates and votes on them in open meetings, and many municipalities post current officer compensation on their websites or in annual financial reports. The cleanest way to find a specific number is to request the current salary ordinance from the municipal clerk. Because the pay cannot change during a term, the ordinance in effect when the mayor was sworn in will show the salary for the full term.
One boundary worth naming: mayors are excluded from the definition of “public employee” under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act.10Justia Law. Illinois Code 5 ILCS 315 – Illinois Public Labor Relations Act They do not belong to unions and do not bargain over their own wages. What they earn is whatever the ordinance says, set by a public vote that anyone in the community can watch happen.