Illinois grants
& benefits: EITC, Benefit Access and Medicaid.

The Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit is 20% of the federal EITC. For tax year 2025 the maximum ranged from $130 with no qualifying children to $866 with one, $1,430 with two and $1,609 with three or more.

Illinois widens eligibility in two ways. Filers with an ITIN can claim it, and so can workers 18 to 24 or 65 and older without a qualifying child, as long as they meet the federal income guidelines.

Claim the state EITC with a child under 12 and you also get the Illinois Child Tax Credit, worth 40 percent of your state EITC for 2025. Both are figured on Schedule IL-E/EITC.

The Department on Aging's Benefit Access Program gives two things: free rides on local public transit and a Secretary of State license plate discount. Your local transit system may have its own extra rules for free rides.

The program is open to residents 65 or older, or turning 65 this year, and to people 16 and older who are totally and permanently disabled.

Gross income for the last closed tax year must be under $33,562 for one person, $44,533 for two, or $55,500 for three. Applications are online only, and a decision can take up to 8 weeks. The help line is 1-800-252-8966.

Illinois expanded Medicaid on January 1, 2014. KFF lists it among states with a trigger law that could end expansion coverage if federal funding drops, and notes that proposals to remove or scale back that law have been introduced there.

HFS says new federal rules starting in January 2027 may require some adults to work, attend school, train or do community service to keep coverage. Most people will not be affected, and HFS will contact anyone who needs to act.

DCEO runs LIHEAP through local agencies. Income-eligible LIHEAP customers of Ameren Illinois, ComEd, Nicor Gas, North Shore Gas and Peoples Gas also get a monthly discount on their natural gas bill.

Who applies first, income limits by utility and county agencies are in our Illinois LIHEAP guide.