Illinois State’s Attorney Salary: County Tiers and Supplements

An Illinois State’s Attorney salary is set by statute based on county population: $75,000 in counties under 30,000 residents, $96,837 in counties of 30,000 or more, and $112,124 for the Cook County State’s Attorney. These are floors. The Compensation Review Board can set a higher figure, and county boards can add supplements from local funds, which is why actual pay varies widely across the state’s 102 counties.

Population Tiers Outside Cook County

The Counties Code keys salary to the county’s population as measured by the last federal census before the State’s Attorney’s election or appointment. Caseload, experience, and specialization do not factor into the statutory formula.

Counties under 30,000 residents: $75,000, plus any cost-of-living adjustments the Compensation Review Board has authorized since January 1, 1999, or the amount set by the Board, whichever is greater. A change effective December 2000 collapsed what had been separate tiers for the smallest counties into this single figure.
Counties with 30,000 or more residents: $96,837, or the amount set by the Compensation Review Board, whichever is greater.

If the Board sets a number higher than the statutory figure, the higher number controls.¹

Cook County

The Cook County State’s Attorney is governed by a separate statute with a baseline of $112,124, or the amount set by the Compensation Review Board, whichever is greater. The figure reflects the scale of the office, which handles thousands of felony, misdemeanor, and civil matters each year.²

Why the Baseline Rarely Moves

The Compensation Review Act created the Compensation Review Board to periodically adjust salaries for elected officials, including State’s Attorneys.³ In practice, the General Assembly has repeatedly passed legislation blocking cost-of-living adjustments for State’s Attorneys across multiple consecutive fiscal years. The statutory figures have therefore held steady for long stretches, and the “whichever is greater” language in the salary statute has done little to lift pay in most counties.

How the State and County Split the Cost

The state does not fund the full salary. Across all 102 counties, the state furnishes 66 2/3% of the salary in effect on December 31, 1988, plus 100% of any increases enacted after that date. Those payments come from the Personal Property Tax Replacement Fund or the General Revenue Fund, subject to appropriation, and are distributed monthly by the Department of Revenue.¹ The same rule governs the state’s contribution to the Cook County office, with payments flowing through the Department of Revenue since July 2011.²

The county covers the rest. Wealthier counties absorb that share easily. In smaller counties, even the local portion of a $75,000 salary can pressure a thin budget. This split is the structural reason pay diverges so much across the state: the floor is the same for every small county, but what a county board can add differs enormously.

County Supplements and Longevity Pay

County boards can supplement a State’s Attorney’s salary using local funds, and this is the main lever wealthier counties use to attract experienced prosecutors. There is no statutory cap. The practical ceiling is whatever the county’s budget and political appetite allow. A State’s Attorney in a large collar county can end up well above $200,000 once the supplement is layered on the statutory base, while a counterpart in a rural county may finish near the $75,000 floor.

A narrow longevity provision also exists. Counties with populations between 15,000 and 50,000 may, by resolution or ordinance, authorize additional compensation for a State’s Attorney who has served at least 20 continuous years in the elected office and participates in the alternative annuity program for county officers. The stipend becomes part of that year’s salary.¹ Twenty continuous years is a high bar for an elected job, so few officeholders qualify.

When Salary Changes Take Effect

State’s Attorneys serve four-year terms, and the Illinois Constitution restricts changes to an elected official’s pay during a term. A county board cannot reduce compensation mid-term. Any adjustment the board adopts must be established by ordinance or resolution at least 180 days before the start of the next term. A newly elected State’s Attorney knows the base compensation on the day of the oath, and it cannot be cut for four years.

The rule cuts both ways. Mid-term raises generally cannot take effect until the following term either, unless a statute provides otherwise. That lag compounds the effect of the COLA freezes: even when political will for a raise exists, the officeholder may not see it for years.

Benefits That Add to Take-Home Value

Salary is not the whole picture. State’s Attorneys, as government employees, can participate in Section 457(b) deferred compensation plans. For 2026, the annual contribution limit for governmental 457 plans is $24,500. Employees age 50 and older can add $8,000 in catch-up contributions for a total of $32,500. A new enhanced catch-up for employees ages 60 through 63 allows up to $11,250 in additional contributions, bringing the potential total to $35,750.⁴

Federal programs also blunt the gap between government and private-practice compensation. The John R. Justice Student Loan Repayment Program provides formula grants to states, which distribute loan repayment funds to qualifying full-time, licensed prosecutors employed by state or local government.⁵ Public Service Loan Forgiveness is open to any full-time employee of a U.S. government organization, including county prosecutors; after 120 qualifying monthly payments on an income-driven repayment plan, the remaining federal student loan balance is forgiven.⁶ For a prosecutor carrying significant law school debt, PSLF can add tens of thousands of dollars in effective value to a position that looks underpaid on paper.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program does not fund the elected official’s salary, but it does channel federal money to counties through the state for prosecution personnel, equipment, training, and information systems, which can underwrite specialized units that reduce pressure on the office.⁷

Why the Gap Between Counties Matters

The combination of population-based floors, repeated COLA freezes, and uneven county supplements produces wide pay gaps across Illinois. A State’s Attorney in a small rural county might sit near $75,000 with a modest supplement, while a peer in a large collar county can clear $200,000. Lower-paying counties have a harder time recruiting experienced prosecutors willing to run for office, and the assistants they hire often move on to better-compensated positions. Turnover disrupts cases and stretches remaining staff. Recent legislative activity has included measures to keep the state’s 66 2/3% share and post-1988 increases flowing from the Personal Property Tax Replacement Fund, but the underlying structure of population tiers plus county supplements remains the reason two State’s Attorneys doing similar work can earn very different salaries.⁸

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 55 ILCS 5/4-2001 – State’s Attorney Salaries
2
FindLaw. Illinois Statutes Chapter 55 Counties 5/4-3001 – State’s Attorney
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 25 ILCS 120 – Compensation Review Act
4
Internal Revenue Service. 401(k) Limit Increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA Limit Increases to $7,500
5
Bureau of Justice Assistance. John R. Justice (JRJ) Program
6
Federal Student Aid. Public Service Loan Forgiveness FAQs
7
Bureau of Justice Assistance. Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program
8
Illinois General Assembly. SB3624 – 104th General Assembly