Illinois PPD Rates for 2026: Caps, Minimums and How to Use Them

If you were hurt at work in Illinois, your permanent partial disability (PPD) rate is 60% of your average weekly wage, held between a floor and a ceiling. For injuries from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, the ceiling for a standard PPD claim is $1,084.66 a week. Amputations and eye losses use a much higher cap. And if you were injured on or after July 1, 2026, the state has not yet published your ceiling.

This guide explains where each number comes from, which one applies to your injury date, and how the weekly rate becomes a settlement or award.

TL;DR

• Standard Illinois PPD is paid at 60% of your average weekly wage (AWW), subject to a minimum and a maximum.
• The standard PPD maximum is $1,084.66 a week for injuries between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. It resets every July 1.
• Amputation of a member or loss of an eye is paid at the higher TTD/PTD maximum, currently $2,045.63 a week for injuries from July 15, 2026, to January 14, 2027.
• The PPD maximum for injuries on or after July 1, 2026, will not be published until about January 2027. It will then apply back to your injury date.
• The weekly rate is only one input. Your final award also depends on the impairment rating and the number of weeks assigned to the body part.

Table of Contents

• What the PPD rate actually is
• 2026 Illinois PPD rate table
• Why there are two maximums
• The injury date controls everything
• How your average weekly wage is built
• A worked example
• From weekly rate to settlement value
• Before you sign a settlement
• Our perspective
• Run your own numbers
• Other benefit figures that come up
• FAQ
• Sources

What the PPD rate actually is

PPD is the benefit for a permanent loss that remains after you have healed as far as you are going to. Temporary total disability (TTD) replaces wages while you are off work. PPD compensates for what is left afterward: a stiff shoulder, a weakened hand, a back that no longer lifts what it used to.

The PPD rate is the weekly dollar figure used in that calculation. Illinois practitioners describe it as 60% of your average weekly wage, with minimums and maximums, and note that the rates change only once a year, in July.

The rate is not what you receive each week for the rest of your life. It is a multiplier. Your PPD award is the weekly rate times a number of weeks, and the number of weeks comes from the body part or from your overall impairment. We cover that formula below.

2026 Illinois PPD rate table

Three different ceilings are in play, and the one that applies depends on the injury and on the date it happened.

The minimum matters mostly for part-time and low-wage workers. The PPD minimum is the same as the TTD minimum, which depends on the number of dependents you have and is the lower of that figure or your actual AWW. Those minimums are tied to the state minimum wage, which has held at $15.00 an hour since January 1, 2025. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (IWCC) posts the current minimum schedule on its benefit rates page.

Why there are two maximums

Most people assume one cap covers every permanent injury. In Illinois it does not.

Standard PPD is capped at 60% of the Statewide Average Weekly Wage (SAWW). That cap runs on a fiscal year, July 1 to June 30, and the IWCC publishes it after the year ends, on or about January 15 of the following year.

Amputation of a member or enucleation of an eye is paid at the TTD maximum, which is 133 1/3% of the SAWW. That figure changes twice a year, on January 15 and July 15, so the right number depends on the exact day of your accident. The IWCC explains that the Illinois Department of Employment Security publishes the SAWW every six months and that it sets the maximum and minimum weekly benefit levels.

If you lost part of a finger, the gap between the two caps can be large. For a high earner, the weekly rate for an amputation can be almost double the standard PPD ceiling. A generic calculator that applies one cap to every injury will understate that claim.

The injury date controls everything

Illinois does not pay one weekly rate to every injured employee. The rate that applies to your case is the one in effect on your date of injury, and that date locks in your ceilings for the life of the claim.

That creates a few situations worth recognizing:

• Injured between July 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. The standard PPD maximum is published: $1,084.66. Amputation claims use the maximum for the half-year in which you were hurt.
• Injured on or after July 1, 2026. There is no published standard PPD maximum yet. That is normal. The figure is set in arrears and applies retroactively once published. Any dollar estimate you see before then for a standard PPD claim is a projection, not a rate.
• Injured earlier. Older rate tables are archived. The IWCC keeps historical schedules, such as its benefit rates for 2012 through 2017, and the right table is the one for your injury date.

If an adjuster quotes a figure, ask which rate period it comes from. A number from the wrong period is one of the most common ways a claim gets mis-valued.

How your average weekly wage is built

The 60% is applied to your AWW, so the AWW is where many disputes start. Under Section 10 of the Act, AWW is your gross earnings in the 52 weeks before the accident divided by 52. If you lost five or more calendar days in any week during that period, those weeks are excluded and the divisor shrinks accordingly. That prevents a bout of flu or an unpaid leave from dragging your average down.

One point from an Illinois firm’s guidance: non-mandatory overtime is not included in the calculation. If your overtime was required, that is worth raising, since it changes the base.

Things to check on the AWW your insurer used:

1. Did it use 52 weeks of earnings, or only a recent slow stretch?
2. Were short weeks of lost time removed from the divisor?
3. Did it include bonuses, tips and a second job where the law allows?
4. Is the stated figure gross pay, not take-home?

A common question from workers outside Illinois, such as people searching for an average weekly wage in North Carolina, is whether the same method applies elsewhere. It does not. Each state defines AWW differently, so use the rules of the state where the claim is filed. Our state-by-state weekly benefit rate tables show how the caps compare.

A worked example

Take a warehouse worker with an AWW of $1,000 who is injured in March 2026.

• Weekly PPD rate: 60% of $1,000 is $600. That is below the $1,084.66 cap, so the cap is irrelevant.
• Where the cap starts to bite: $1,084.66 divided by 0.60 is about $1,807.77. A worker with an AWW above that figure is held to the maximum.
• Then the weeks: If the injury is rated as a loss to the whole person, Illinois practitioners point to a 500-week base, which the impairment percentage is applied to. A 10% loss of the person as a whole would be 50 weeks, so 50 times $600 is $30,000.

This is a simplified illustration, not a prediction. Real awards depend on the physician’s rating, the arbitrator’s findings, any wage differential claim, and the body part involved. The point is the structure: a modest change in AWW or in the rating moves the total more than most people expect.

From weekly rate to settlement value

Mike Helfand, an Illinois attorney, describes the final figure as a product of three things: the impairment rating assigned by a physician, the number of weeks assigned to the injured body part, and the weekly PPD rate. Higher earners generally receive larger awards because their base rate is higher, unless they hit the statutory maximum.

Illinois also gives you more than one way to be compensated for a permanent injury:

• Scheduled body part awards under Section 8(e) of the Act, where each part (hand, arm, leg, foot, and so on) has a set number of weeks.
• Person-as-a-whole awards under Section 8(d)2, used for injuries such as the back or for conditions that do not fit the schedule.
• Wage differential awards, available when you cannot return to your previous work and now earn less. The maximum wage differential equals the SAWW, which is $1,534.22 a week for the period beginning July 15, 2026.

Attorney commentary notes that the framework chosen can change settlement value drastically, and that the insurance adjuster works for the employer, not for you. The statute itself, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, is the final word on the schedules and weeks.

To see how a specific rating would convert into dollars, try our Illinois impairment rating payout calculator. For a deeper walkthrough, our guide on what an impairment rating means for your payout covers how physicians arrive at the percentage.

Before you sign a settlement

A lump sum settlement closes out the claim. Attorney guidance warns that it forfeits the ability to reopen the case if your condition worsens, which is the key risk compared with an arbitration award. Cash today is real, but so is a permanent knee or shoulder that gets worse five years from now.

Before you accept, compare the offer against a number you built yourself: your AWW, the correct rate period, the correct framework and a realistic range for the rating. If the offer is far below that range, ask the adjuster to explain the AWW, the rating and the weeks used. It also pays to read the release language line by line. A settlement release checklist can help you spot what you would be giving up before you sign.

If the insurer’s figures do not reconcile with yours, or if your employer disputes the injury, speak with a licensed Illinois workers’ compensation attorney before signing anything. Many handle these cases on contingency, and the fee for approved workers’ compensation cases is set by statute, so a consultation costs little compared with a closed claim you cannot reopen.

Our perspective

We built our calculators because most people meet the PPD rate for the first time when someone else hands them a number. By then the conversation is already framed around the insurer’s assumptions.

In our experience, three mistakes recur. The first is using the wrong rate period, usually applying the current cap to an older injury. The second is using a single cap for every injury type, which hides the higher amputation rate. The third is an AWW that leaves out income the law counts. Our tools use state caps for 2026 and include all income sources in the wage calculation, so the rate you start from is the one a careful reader of the statute would use.

We also try to be honest about uncertainty. For injuries after July 1, 2026, nobody can give you a final standard PPD maximum yet, and a calculator that pretends otherwise is guessing. We would rather show you the range and tell you why it is a range.

An estimate is not legal advice and it is not a promise of what an arbitrator will award. It is a benchmark that lets you ask better questions.

— Daniel

Run your own numbers

Our free Illinois workers’ comp calculator takes your average weekly wage and injury type and returns an estimated weekly benefit using Illinois caps. For a figure that includes a range of settlement outcomes, use the Illinois settlement chart and calculator. To see how other states compare, start from our main workers’ comp calculator.

Other benefit figures that come up

Mileage. If you travel for medical treatment or an employer-requested exam, the Illinois mileage reimbursement rate is $0.725 a mile as of January 1, 2026. Keep a log with dates, destinations and round-trip distances.

TTD. While you are off work and not yet at maximum medical improvement, TTD is two-thirds of your AWW, capped at 133 1/3% of the SAWW. Our PPD calculator picks up where TTD ends.

Permanent total disability. PTD uses the same maximum as TTD, but its minimum is 50% of the SAWW regardless of family size.

Other states. If you also work or live across state lines, our overview of permanent disability pay across the U.S. explains why the same injury can produce very different numbers.

FAQ

What is the maximum PPD rate in Illinois?

For standard PPD with an injury date from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, the maximum is $1,084.66 a week. Amputation and eye enucleation claims use the higher TTD maximum, which is $2,045.63 for injuries from July 15, 2026, to January 14, 2027. The standard maximum for injuries on or after July 1, 2026, is expected in January 2027.

How is the Illinois PPD rate calculated?

It is 60% of your average weekly wage, limited by the state minimum and maximum for your injury date. Your AWW comes from your gross earnings over the 52 weeks before the accident. The rate is then multiplied by the number of weeks assigned to your body part or your person-as-a-whole rating.

Does the Illinois PPD schedule give the same weeks for every injury?

No. Each scheduled body part under Section 8(e) has its own number of weeks, and injuries that do not fit the schedule are valued under Section 8(d)2 using a different base. Your physician’s impairment rating and the arbitrator’s findings then adjust the result. The Act itself lists the schedule.

When do Illinois PPD rates change?

The standard PPD maximum changes once a year with the July 1 fiscal year and is published the following January. TTD, PTD and amputation maximums change twice a year, on January 15 and July 15. The rate that governs your claim is the one in effect on your injury date.

Sources

• Benefit Rates, Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission
• Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, 820 ILCS 305
• Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission benefit rates, 2012 through 2017
• Illinois Workers’ Compensation Benefit Rates 2026, Hennessey Law
• Workers’ Compensation Benefit Rate Update for 2026, MVP Law
• Workers’ Comp Settlement Charts in Illinois, ConsumerShield
• Illinois PPD and TTD Rates for 2026
• Workers’ Compensation, Maglione Law
• The Four Types of Permanent Partial Disability Benefits in Illinois

Recommended

• Illinois Impairment Rating Payout Calculator (2026)
• Illinois Workers’ Comp Settlement Chart 2026 + Calculator
• PPD Calculator 2026 — Permanent Partial Disability Workers’ Comp Award
• Use 2026 State Caps to Calculate Your Permanent Restrictions Settlement