Illinois State Legistators Are Paid A Lot More than Other Lawmakers

Good Grief! No wonder why the state of Illinois is in a financial mess. Do you know how much we pay or Illinois State legislators compared to other states? A heck of a lot!

Okay, granted, everyone has to earn a living, and yes, even our state Senators and representatives. However, Illinois state legislators are making more than "a living" than the vast majority of state lawmakers anywhere else in the country.

The Chicago Sun-times reports that in Illinois, we pay our legislators more than any other state in the Midwest, and Illinois’ state legislator salaries are the fifth-highest in the nation overall

Illinois taxpayers spend more than $12 million a year on salaries for our 177 state senators and representatives. Each lawmaker’s base pay starts out at nearly $68,000 a year. The state’s per diem rate is a little more on par with the rest of the country, at $111.

The state of new Mexico pays it's state lawmakers - ZERO!

Illinois ranks 5th out of the 50 United States in terms of legislator pay.

State Lawmaker Compensation: Here are the top 5

• $90,526 - California
• $84,012 - Pennsylvania
• $79,500 - New York
• $71,685 - Michigan
• $67,836 - Illinois

The Bottom 5

• $10,000 - Mississippi
• $7,200 - Texas
• $6,000 - South Dakota
• $273 - Utah
• $200 - New Hampshire
• $0 - New Mexico

(Source:  2014 National Conference of State Legislatures Get the data)

It's worth noting that Illinois' new governor, Bruce Rauner will accept no salary. That's a start. Now if we can get Rep. John Cabello, Rep. Joe Sosnowski, Rep Pritchard, Sen. Steve Stadelman, Sen Bivens and Sen. Dave Syverson go along, we could save a bunch of money on salaries and pensions.