Illinois Workers' Comp Settlement Chart by Body Part
What your injury is worth under Illinois law, with current IWCC rates
Last updated
This Illinois workers' comp settlement chart shows the value the law assigns to each body part under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act. Every part of your body is worth a set number of weeks of pay. Click a body part, set the rating, and enter your wage to see how Illinois' formula applies to you. Then get a free review of what your claim is really worth.
Click a Body Part to See Its Value Under Illinois Law
Select an injury, set the disability rating, and enter your average weekly wage. The calculator applies the actual Illinois formula, statutory weeks times your percentage loss times your PPD rate (60% of your wage, capped at $1,084.66).
Click a body part or search above
Select a Body Part
Click on the body diagram or use the search above to view PPD benefit details for a specific injury.
Benefit rates shown reflect the PPD maximum of $1,084.66/week for injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 and are subject to annual adjustment by the IWCC. This chart is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Individual case values depend on your specific injury, medical evidence, and average weekly wage.
Rates shown reflect the IWCC maximum for injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Estimates are informational only and are not legal advice or a promise of any result. Every case is different.
How Illinois Calculates a Workers' Comp Settlement
Illinois does not pay for pain and suffering in a workers' comp case. Instead, the law converts a permanent injury into money using a fixed formula. Once you know the three inputs, you can check any settlement offer yourself.
1. Statutory weeks come from the schedule
Section 8(e) of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act assigns each body part a number of weeks: 253 for an arm, 205 for a hand, 215 for a leg, 167 for a foot. Injuries that are not on the schedule, including the back, neck, head, shoulder, and hip, fall under the "body as a whole" at 500 weeks. The full list is in the schedule table below.
2. The percentage is where cases are won or lost
Nobody disputes the weeks. The dispute is over your percentage loss of use. For injuries on or after September 1, 2011, arbitrators must weigh 5 factors under 820 ILCS 305/8.1b: the AMA impairment rating (if the employer obtains one), your occupation, your age, your future earning capacity, and the disability documented in your medical records. No single factor controls. Insurance companies like to treat the AMA rating, usually the lowest of the five, as the whole answer. It is not, but they will run with it if nobody pushes back.
3. Your PPD rate is 60% of your average weekly wage, one of the most disputed numbers in the case
The weekly rate applied to those weeks is 60% of your average weekly wage (AWW), capped at $1,084.66 for injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. The cap only binds once your gross wage exceeds about $1,808 per week.
AWW is one of the most litigated numbers in a workers' comp case because it drives both your weekly check while you are off work (TTD) and the permanency value at the end (PPD). Get it wrong by $50 a week and every week of benefits after it is short. There are rules about when overtime counts and when it does not. There are rules for teachers who do not work in the summer, for seasonal workers, for union trades whose income depends on which jobs they get called to and on the weather, and for bonuses and tips. Insurers tend to apply the version of those rules that produces the lowest number.
Our firm has written the chapter on computing average weekly wage for the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association's workers' compensation handbook for more than a decade. We check this number in every case, and it is often the first place a low offer comes from.
3 Example Settlement Calculations
Each example shows the same injury at 2 wage levels: a worker earning $900 per week (PPD rate $540.00) and a high-wage worker at the $1,084.66 statutory maximum.
Herniated disc in the lower back (body as a whole)
A warehouse worker in Fairview Heights herniates a disc lifting a pallet and has a fusion. The parties agree on 15% loss of the person as a whole.
Crushed hand in a press (hand)
A machine operator in Belleville loses grip strength after a crush injury. The case resolves at 10% loss of use of the hand.
Torn meniscus requiring surgery (leg)
A delivery driver in O’Fallon tears a meniscus stepping off a dock and needs arthroscopic surgery. The case resolves at 25% loss of use of the leg.
Hypothetical illustrations of the statutory formula, not case results and not a prediction of value for any specific claim.
Complete Illinois Body Part Value Table
Every body part value in the Illinois schedule for injuries on or after February 1, 2006, with dollar values computed at the current $1,084.66 maximum PPD rate. Most workers' rates are lower (60% of their average weekly wage), so treat the dollar columns as statutory maximums.
| Body part | Weeks | Value per 1% loss | 25% loss | 100% loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body as a whole (back, neck, head, shoulder, hip) §8(d)2 | 500 | $5,423.30 | $135,583 | $542,330 |
| Amputation of arm at shoulder joint §8(e) | 323 | $3,503.45 | $87,586 | $350,345 |
| Amputation of leg at hip joint §8(e) | 296 | $3,210.59 | $80,265 | $321,059 |
| Amputation of arm above elbow §8(e) | 270 | $2,928.58 | $73,215 | $292,858 |
| Arm §8(e)10 | 253 | $2,744.19 | $68,605 | $274,419 |
| Amputation of leg above knee §8(e) | 242 | $2,624.88 | $65,622 | $262,488 |
| Leg (includes the knee) §8(e)12 | 215 | $2,332.02 | $58,300 | $233,202 |
| Hearing loss, both ears §8(e) | 215 | $2,332.02 | $58,300 | $233,202 |
| Hand §8(e)9 | 205 | $2,223.55 | $55,589 | $222,355 |
| Hand (carpal tunnel, repetitive trauma on/after 6/28/2011) §8(e)9 | 190 | $2,060.85 | $51,521 | $206,085 |
| Enucleation (removal) of eye §8(e) | 173 | $1,876.46 | $46,912 | $187,646 |
| Foot §8(e)11 | 167 | $1,811.38 | $45,285 | $181,138 |
| Eye (loss of sight) §8(e)13 | 162 | $1,757.15 | $43,929 | $175,715 |
| Serious and permanent disfigurement (up to) §8(c) | 162 | $1,757.15 | $43,929 | $175,715 |
| Loss of both testicles §8(e) | 162 | $1,757.15 | $43,929 | $175,715 |
| Thumb §8(e)1 | 76 | $824.34 | $20,609 | $82,434 |
| Hearing loss, one ear §8(e) | 54 | $585.72 | $14,643 | $58,572 |
| Loss of one testicle §8(e) | 54 | $585.72 | $14,643 | $58,572 |
| Index finger §8(e)2 | 43 | $466.40 | $11,660 | $46,640 |
| Middle finger §8(e)3 | 38 | $412.17 | $10,304 | $41,217 |
| Great toe §8(e) | 38 | $412.17 | $10,304 | $41,217 |
| Ring finger §8(e)4 | 27 | $292.86 | $7,321 | $29,286 |
| Little finger §8(e)5 | 22 | $238.63 | $5,966 | $23,863 |
| Each other toe §8(e) | 13 | $141.01 | $3,525 | $14,101 |
Statutory minimum awards for fractures and organ damage
Illinois also guarantees minimum PPD awards for certain injuries even when the percentage loss would compute lower:
Shoulders, Spines, Heads, and Hips Are Worth More Than Most Charts Show
If you compare this page to settlement charts from other states, you will notice something missing: Illinois has no scheduled value for the shoulder or the hip. That is not an oversight. It is one of the most worker-friendly features of Illinois law.
The same is true of the spine and the head. Back, neck, and brain injuries are never rated as a part; they are rated against the whole person, which is exactly where the money is.
In Will County Forest Preserve District v. IWCC (2012), the Illinois Appellate Court held that the shoulder is not part of the arm. A rotator cuff tear is therefore rated against the 500-week person-as-a-whole standard, not the 253-week arm schedule. The same logic applies to the hip, which is not a scheduled member and is compensated as body as a whole rather than as part of the 215-week leg. At the same percentage rating, the body-as-a-whole scale pays roughly twice what the arm schedule would.
Insurance adjusters know this distinction. Injured workers usually do not. If an adjuster offers to settle your rotator cuff tear "as a percentage of the arm," that single word choice is costing you money. The back, neck, head, and brain work the same way: all rated on the 500-week scale, where each 1% of the person as a whole is worth $5,423.30 at the current maximum rate.
Hurt on the Missouri side of the river? Missouri's schedule works differently (a shoulder is 232 weeks there, and the rate cap is far lower). See our Missouri workers' comp settlement chart for the RSMo 287.190 values and the Missouri version of this calculator.
2025-2026 Illinois Workers' Comp Rates
These figures come directly from the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and the statewide average weekly wage (SAWW) published by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. They adjust every January 15 and July 15; the PPD maximum adjusts each July 1.
Maximum PPD rate by injury date
| Injury date | Max PPD rate |
|---|---|
| 7/1/2025 – 6/30/2026 | $1,084.66 |
| 7/1/2024 – 6/30/2025 | $1,045.92 |
| 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2024 | $1,024.87 |
| 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2023 | $998.02 |
| 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2022 | $937.11 |
Your PPD rate is 60% of your average weekly wage, up to this cap.
SAWW, TTD, and total-disability rates
| Period | SAWW | TTD / PTD max | PTD min |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7/15/2026 – 1/14/2027 | $1,534.22 | $2,045.63 | $767.11 |
| 1/15/2026 – 7/14/2026 | $1,506.49 | $2,008.60 | $753.25 |
| 7/15/2025 – 1/14/2026 | $1,481.05 | $1,974.73 | $740.53 |
Temporary total disability (TTD) pays 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage while you are off work, capped at 133 1/3% of the SAWW. Death benefits run 25 years or $500,000, whichever is greater.
When Your Case Is Worth More Than the Chart
The settlement chart covers one benefit: permanent partial disability. Serious injuries often trigger other parts of the Act that can be worth far more, and a fair settlement has to account for all of them.
Wage differential awards
If your injury forces you into lighter, lower-paying work, Section 8(d)1 pays 66 2/3% of the difference between what you used to earn and what you can earn now, capped at the statewide average weekly wage and payable through age 67 or for 5 years, whichever is later. For a 45-year-old tradesman who can no longer swing a hammer, a wage differential is routinely worth several times the scheduled PPD value, and it is the comparison every serious settlement negotiation should start with.
Permanent total disability
If you cannot return to any regular employment, or you lose 2 hands, arms, feet, legs, eyes, or any combination of 2, permanent total disability pays 66 2/3% of your wage for life, with cost-of-living adjustments through the Rate Adjustment Fund. The current PTD maximum is $2,045.63 per week.
Amputations and loss of an eye
Amputation of a member or enucleation of an eye is paid at a higher maximum rate than ordinary PPD, the same 133 1/3%-of-SAWW cap that applies to TTD. Illinois also requires statutory amputation benefits to be paid promptly, concurrent with TTD, rather than held back for settlement.
Disfigurement and scarring
Serious and permanent disfigurement to the head, face, neck, chest above the armpits, arms, hands, or lower legs is compensable for up to 162 weeks under Section 8(c). Burn scars, surgical scars, and lacerations from a work accident all count, and disfigurement awards are frequently left on the table because nobody asks.
Carpal tunnel and repetitive trauma
For repetitive-trauma carpal tunnel claims with injury dates on or after June 28, 2011, the hand is valued at 190 weeks instead of 205, and awards are generally capped at 15% loss of use of the hand (up to 30% where the medical evidence justifies it). If your carpal tunnel came from a specific traumatic accident rather than repetition, the caps read differently, which is exactly the kind of distinction worth a free phone call.
Third-party lawsuits alongside workers' comp
Workers' comp is your exclusive remedy against your employer, but not against anyone else. If a negligent driver, a subcontractor, or defective equipment caused your injury, you may have a separate third-party injury case with no statutory caps at all. We resolved a workers' comp claim for an injured lineman and then recovered $1.25M more in the companion third-party suit. The comp chart says nothing about that kind of value.
2 Deadlines Protect Your Settlement
Tell your employer about the accident within 45 days, in writing if possible. Wait longer and you can lose your benefits entirely (820 ILCS 305/6(c)).
You have 3 years from the injury date, or 2 years from the last compensation payment, whichever is later, to file an Application for Adjustment of Claim (820 ILCS 305/6(d)). Reporting to your employer does not file your claim.
One more deadline that surprises people: settlement contracts are not final until an IWCC arbitrator approves them. That review exists to protect you, and it is your last chance to fix a bad number. Once approved, the settlement usually closes your rights, including, in most contracts, your right to future medical care.
Neither deadline is a reason to wait. In a workers' comp case the early moves matter: getting your employer notice in writing, getting treatment authorized instead of denied, and getting the average weekly wage calculated correctly before the insurer locks in a low number. The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
Why Injured Workers Across the Metro East Call Nelson & Nelson
Our firm exists because of a workers' comp case that was never paid. Our grandfather Curtis Nelson, a union carpenter and World War I veteran, was killed by a truck on the job in 1943, and his family received nothing. Three generations later, we have spent 40+ years representing injured workers in Belleville, East St. Louis, Edwardsville, O'Fallon, and across St. Clair and Madison counties, recovering more than a billion dollars for our clients along the way.
Our founder Robert Nelson was inducted into the College of Workers' Compensation Lawyers and taught Illinois workers' comp law to other attorneys twice a year for decades. The firm has carried that on, authoring the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association handbook chapter on computing average weekly wage, the number this entire chart runs on, for more than a decade. Nathan Lanter has served on the ISBA Workers' Compensation Section Council since 2020 and has argued before the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission and the appellate court. In one case, he took over an 8-year-old claim where the prior attorney had a $2,500 offer and resolved it for a $125,000 workers' comp settlement, 50 times the offer on the table. When a comp case hides a bigger third-party claim, David Nelson secured a $1.25M third-party settlement for a permanently disabled lineman on top of his six-figure comp recovery.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is different.
Have an offer in hand, or a rating that feels low? Run it against this chart, then let us check the math for free. Phones are answered 24/7.
Illinois Workers' Comp Settlement Chart FAQ
How is a workers’ comp settlement calculated in Illinois?
Most Illinois settlements for a permanent injury follow one formula: statutory weeks for the body part, times your percentage loss of use, times your weekly PPD rate. The weeks come from the schedule in 820 ILCS 305/8(e) (or 500 weeks for the body as a whole). The percentage is negotiated or decided by an arbitrator. The PPD rate is 60% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,084.66 for injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026.
How is average weekly wage calculated in Illinois workers’ comp?
Usually by averaging your gross earnings over the 52 weeks before the injury, but the Act has special rules that change the answer: whether overtime counts, how to treat a teacher or seasonal worker who does not work all year, how to handle a union tradesperson whose hours depend on job calls and weather, and what to do with bonuses and tips. Because AWW sets both your weekly TTD check and your PPD rate, a low AWW quietly shrinks every benefit in the case. Our firm has authored the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association handbook chapter on this calculation for more than a decade, and we check it in every case.
What is the maximum PPD rate in Illinois right now?
For injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, the maximum PPD weekly rate is $1,084.66 per the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. The cap only matters if 60% of your average weekly wage exceeds it, which happens once your gross wage tops about $1,808 per week. The IWCC updates this figure every year.
How much does workers’ comp pay per week in Illinois?
It depends on which benefit you are receiving. While a doctor has you off work, temporary total disability (TTD) pays 66 2/3% of your average weekly wage, up to $2,045.63 per week for injuries occurring 7/15/2026 to 1/14/2027. When the permanent part of the case is valued, permanent partial disability (PPD) is calculated at 60% of your average weekly wage, capped at $1,084.66 for injuries occurring July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. Workers’ comp also pays for the medical treatment for your injury. Both weekly figures run off the same average weekly wage, so getting that number right matters more than any chart.
Is a shoulder injury an arm injury or body as a whole in Illinois?
Body as a whole. The Illinois Appellate Court held in Will County Forest Preserve District v. IWCC (2012) that the shoulder is not part of the arm, so shoulder injuries like rotator cuff tears are compensated on the 500-week person-as-a-whole scale rather than the 253-week arm schedule. That distinction alone can roughly double the value of the same percentage rating.
What does "body as a whole" mean on the chart?
Injuries that are not on the specific schedule of body parts, including the back, neck, head and brain, shoulder, and hip, are rated as a percentage of "the person as a whole," which Illinois values at 500 weeks under 820 ILCS 305/8(d)2. Because 500 weeks is the largest number on the chart, body-as-a-whole injuries generally carry the highest settlement values at any given percentage.
How much is a back injury worth in Illinois workers’ comp?
There is no fixed dollar amount. A back injury is rated as a percentage of the person as a whole (500 weeks). At the current maximum PPD rate, each 1% of the person as a whole is worth $5,423.30, so a 15% rating can exceed $81,350 for a high-wage worker. Your actual number depends on your wage, your medical evidence, and whether surgery and permanent restrictions are involved.
Can my settlement be worth more than the chart value?
Yes. The chart only covers permanent partial disability. If your injury forces you into lower-paying work, a wage differential award under 820 ILCS 305/8(d)1 pays 66 2/3% of the wage difference, potentially through age 67. Settlements also account for disputed medical bills, future treatment, and permanent total disability exposure, so the final number is often negotiated above the raw PPD math.
Do I have to accept the impairment rating the doctor gives me?
No. For injuries on or after 9/1/2011, an AMA impairment rating is only one of five factors under 820 ILCS 305/8.1b. The arbitrator must also weigh your occupation, your age, your future earning capacity, and the evidence of disability in your medical records, and no single factor controls. Insurance companies often treat the impairment rating as the ceiling. It is not, and that is frequently where cases are undervalued.
Is an Illinois workers’ comp settlement taxable?
Workers’ compensation benefits for a work injury, including lump-sum settlements, are generally not taxable under federal law (26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(1)) or Illinois law. Narrow exceptions exist, for example certain Social Security disability offsets, so it is worth confirming how a settlement is structured before you sign.
How long do I have to file a workers’ comp claim in Illinois?
Two deadlines matter. You must notify your employer within 45 days of the accident. You then have 3 years from the date of injury, or 2 years from the last compensation payment, whichever is later, to file a claim with the IWCC (820 ILCS 305/6). Miss the 45-day notice and you can lose benefits entirely, so report the injury in writing as soon as possible. The filing deadline is the last day, not the right day: treatment, notice, and your wage records are all easier to get right early. The sooner you call, the better job we can do.
What does a workers’ comp lawyer cost in Illinois?
Illinois caps attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases at 20% of the recovery (820 ILCS 305/16a), and consultations at Nelson & Nelson are free. There are no upfront costs and no fee unless we recover for you. In practice, represented workers frequently net more after fees because disputed ratings, wage calculations, and future medical are actually contested rather than accepted.
Hurt on the Job in Illinois?
The chart tells you what the law says. It does not tell you what the insurance company will try to pay. Before you sign anything, let a Belleville workers' comp attorney review your rating, your wage calculation, and your offer, free, with no fee unless we recover for you.
Or call (618) 277-4000, phones answered 24/7