Moving between states / Illinois

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Moving from Pennsylvania to Illinois for work

What moves with you from Pennsylvania to Illinois: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

On a $60,000 salary Illinois takes roughly $1,128 a year more than Pennsylvania does.

SalaryPennsylvania state taxIllinois state taxDifference a year
$40,000$1,228$1,980-$752
$60,000$1,842$2,970-$1,128
$90,000$2,763$4,455-$1,692

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. In Pennsylvania: municipalities add an earned income tax, 1% in most places and 3.75% in Philadelphia. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Pennsylvania to Illinois

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Pennsylvania certificate stays on the Pennsylvania Nurse Aide Registry (Pennsylvania Department of Education, administered by Credentia); to work in Illinois you apply to the Illinois Department of Public Health, Health Care Worker Registry for reciprocity. It accepts an active certificate in good standing from another state; there is no retest if your record is clean. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Pennsylvania to Illinois

Endorsement needed. Illinois is not in the Nurse Licensure Compact, so your Pennsylvania multistate licence does not work there. Apply to the Illinois Board of Nursing for licensure by endorsement before you move; it commonly takes six to twelve weeks. Your Pennsylvania licence stays valid for compact states.

Electrician: Pennsylvania to Illinois

Licensed by the city. Illinois has no state electrician licence; the City and county building departments decide what card you need, and it can differ between cities. No state electrician licence; Chicago and most suburbs license their own, so the licence you need depends on where the job is. Ask the contractor hiring you which municipality the first job is in and apply to that one. Your Pennsylvania local licence is evidence of hours, not a licence there.

CDL: Pennsylvania to Illinois

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a Illinois resident you surrender the Pennsylvania CDL at a Illinois driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in Illinois. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

No statewide program in Illinois pays people to move in. Towns sometimes list an offer through MakeMyMove, and employers in short-staffed trades pay relocation themselves; ask for it in writing before you accept.

Openings filed in Illinois

122 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by Illinois employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Pennsylvania to Illinois

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for Illinois employers.

Plan my move to Illinois

Same move, by trade

CNA: Pennsylvania to Illinois · RN or LPN: Pennsylvania to Illinois · Electrician: Pennsylvania to Illinois · Truck driver: Pennsylvania to Illinois

From Pennsylvania to the states next to Illinois

Wisconsin (progressive, top rate 7.65%) · Iowa (flat 3.8% state income tax) · Missouri (progressive, top rate 4.7%) · Kentucky (flat 4% state income tax) · Indiana (flat 3% state income tax)

To Illinois from the states next to Pennsylvania

New York · New Jersey · Delaware · Maryland · West Virginia · Ohio

Everything about working in Illinois · All moves between states · All 50 states

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