Illinois workers’ compensation body part values are set by statute: 820 ILCS 305/8(e) assigns a fixed number of compensable weeks to each body part, from 253 weeks for an arm down to 13 weeks for a smaller toe. Your actual payout is those weeks multiplied by your weekly permanent partial disability (PPD) rate and by the percentage of function you lost.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
Weeks Assigned to Each Body Part
The numbers below are the ceiling for a complete (100%) loss of the body part, or complete loss of its use, for injuries on or after February 1, 2006. Injuries before that date fall under a lower schedule.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
- Arm: 253 weeks
- Leg: 215 weeks
- Hand: 205 weeks
- Foot: 167 weeks
- Eye: 162 weeks
- Thumb: 76 weeks
- Index finger: 43 weeks
- Middle finger: 38 weeks
- Great toe: 38 weeks
- Ring finger: 27 weeks
- Little finger: 22 weeks
- Each smaller toe: 13 weeks
Partial amputations of a finger or toe follow a rule of thumb built into the statute. Losing the tip (the first phalanx) counts as half the value of the full digit. Losing more than one phalanx counts as the entire digit.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
Repetitive-trauma carpal tunnel claims carry a special cap. For injuries after June 28, 2011, the award is limited to 15% loss of use of the hand, and even with clear and convincing evidence, it cannot exceed 30% loss of use.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
Turning Weeks Into Dollars
Each week on the schedule is paid at your PPD rate, which is 60% of your average weekly wage at the time of injury.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8 Earn $1,000 a week before the accident and your base PPD rate is $600.
The full calculation has three pieces:
- Statutory weeks for the body part
- Percentage of loss of use
- Weekly PPD rate
An example. Say your PPD rate is $600 and you lose 25% use of a hand. The hand is worth 205 weeks at 100%, so 25% of 205 is 51.25 weeks. Multiply 51.25 by $600 and the award is $30,750.
The minimum PPD rate increases by 10% for each spouse and child, capped at 100% of the applicable minimum-wage calculation or your actual average weekly wage, whichever is less.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
Current Weekly Caps and Floors
Illinois recalculates its maximum and minimum PPD rates every six months, tied to the statewide average weekly wage published by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.2Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Benefit Rates For injuries occurring between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026, the PPD maximum is $1,084.66 per week. Higher pre-injury wages do not push the weekly benefit above that ceiling.
Minimums depend on household size. From January 15, 2026, through July 14, 2026, they are:2Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission. Benefit Rates
- No dependents: $400.00 per week
- One dependent: $460.00 per week
- Two dependents: $520.00 per week
- Three dependents: $580.00 per week
- Four or more dependents: $600.00 per week
If your actual average weekly wage is below the applicable minimum, the benefit is set at your actual wage rather than the floor.
Injuries That Are Not on the Schedule
The list above covers limbs, digits, and eyes. Spine injuries, head injuries, internal organ damage, and other conditions that don’t involve a scheduled body part are handled separately, so the fixed week counts above will not apply.
Under Section 8(d)(2), non-scheduled injuries are compensated as a percentage of 500 weeks at the PPD rate, treating the injury as a loss to the “person as a whole.” The statute also sets minimum week values for certain fractures: at least 6 weeks for a fractured skull, at least 6 weeks per fractured vertebra, at least 2 weeks per fractured facial bone (nasal, zygomatic, jaw, and similar bones), and at least 3 weeks per fractured transverse process. Loss of a kidney, spleen, or lung carries a minimum of 10 weeks.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
If a non-scheduled injury reduces your earning capacity, Section 8(d)(1) offers an alternative: a wage-differential award equal to two-thirds of the gap between what you could earn before and after the injury. For injuries on or after September 1, 2011, that benefit runs until age 67 or for five years after the award becomes final, whichever is later.1Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8
Permanent, serious scarring or disfigurement to the hand, head, face, neck, arm, leg below the knee, or chest above the armpit line qualifies for a separate award of up to 162 weeks at the PPD rate for injuries on or after February 1, 2006.3FindLaw. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8 – Amount of Compensation; Nonfatal Cases A disfigurement claim cannot be heard earlier than six months after the injury, and it is not available for the same injury already being compensated under the scheduled list or the person-as-a-whole provision.
How the Percentage of Loss Is Set
The week counts are fixed. The percentage of loss is not, and it is where most of the payout is actually decided. A shoulder surgery might come out at 20% loss of use of the arm; a knee injury might come out at 30% loss of use of the leg. Under Section 8.1b, the Commission weighs five factors when setting that percentage:4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8.1b – Determination of Permanent Partial Disability
- The AMA impairment rating, produced in a written report by a physician using the most current edition of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, measuring range of motion, strength, tissue atrophy, and other objective findings
- The worker’s occupation, since the same knee injury lands differently on a warehouse worker and an office worker
- The worker’s age at the time of injury, which affects how many working years the impairment will span
- Future earning capacity, meaning whether the injury limits the worker’s ability to earn what they earned before
- Evidence of disability corroborated by treating medical records, meaning the worker’s account of symptoms backed up by documentation from treating doctors
No single factor can be the sole basis for the decision. If the arbitrator relies on anything beyond the impairment rating, the written order has to explain the weight given to each factor.4Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 820 ILCS 305/8.1b – Determination of Permanent Partial Disability In practice, the AMA rating is the starting point and the other four factors move the number up or down from there.
Two numbers you can look up (statutory weeks and the current PPD rate cap), one number you calculate (60% of your pre-injury weekly wage), and one number that gets fought over (the percentage of loss). Multiply them together and you have the value of the body part in your case.