Cook County Minimum Wage Increase
Effective Jan. 1, 2025
As of January 1, 2025, the Illinois minimum wage will increase from $14.00 to $15.00 per hour. For tipped workers, the wage will increase from $8.40 to $9.00 per hour. For workers under age 18 and working less than 650 hours in a calendar year, the minimum wage will increase from $12.00 to $13.00 per hour.
At the beginning of this year, both the State and Cook County’s minimum wage, under Cook County’s Minimum Wage Ordinance, were the same at $14.00 an hour. The alignment of the State and Cook County minimum wage rates required all employers (regardless of prior opt-out provisions) to abide by the same minimum wage rates.
As of July 1, 2024, the Cook County minimum wage increased to $14.05 an hour for covered employees. Unless the Cook County Commission adjusts the minimum wage again at the beginning of the year, the State will have a higher minimum wage and all employers in Cook County will need to comply with that minimum rate. Of course, employers covered under Chicago’s Minimum Wage Ordinance must follow the higher wages set by Chicago’s ordinance.
State and county minimum wage does not apply to workers classified as exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state law. These workers are covered under a federal minimum salary requirement instead (except those working in outside sales, which has no minimum wage or salary requirements) that increased in July 2024 from $35,568 ($684 per week) to $43,888 ($844 per week). This minimum salary threshold is set to increase again January 1, 2025, to $58,656 annually ($1,128 per week). A lawsuit pending in a Texas federal court may decide the course of that increase. HR Source will keep members informed on the outcome of the lawsuit.
Employers with workers covered under the state’s minimum wage should prepare for the increase as of January 1, 2025.
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