Illinois veteran benefits
- Verified veteran benefits
- 31
- each with its statute
- Counties covered
- 102
- every one has its own page
- Veterans in this state
- 0.59M
- Rating thresholds that matter
- 0
- each one opens something different
How to use this, in four steps
You are on step 1. Nothing is locked — browse everything first, then check the ones that look relevant.
See what you may be entitled to
Browse every verified benefit in your state. No questions, no account — everything is open.
Check whether you qualify
Open any benefit and answer a few questions about that one. We stop as soon as we know.
Diarise the renewal
Illinois relief does not roll over. PTAX-342-R arrives annually and missing it costs the whole year.
File before the deadline
The deadline for the main property tax relief is: Renewal typically due October 1. File with your Chief County Assessment Officer.
Which of these sounds like you?
Pick one and we will narrow the list. You can change or clear it at any point.
Two things sharpen this a lot
Both optional. Your county decides where you file and what a property tax exemption is actually worth; your rating decides which thresholds you cross.
Where do you live?
We use this once to work out your county, because property tax is decided county by county. No benefit is ever matched on a ZIP code alone.
Your VA disability status
What does my rating actually unlock?
Ratings are a starting point rather than the whole answer in Illinois. Read the record for the test that actually applies — several turn on the words on your VA letter rather than on the number.
2 likely, 29 possible
What you appear to qualify for — worth checking.
One question checks 14 of them. You can skip it and keep browsing.
Did you serve in the U.S. armed forces?
2 more questions could resolve others. We ask them one at a time.
Standard Homestead Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities — and Four Routes That Are Not About Bands
Three plain bands: $2,500 off at 30%, $5,000 at 50%, and the first $250,000 of equalized assessed value exempt at 70% — which for most Illinois homes is the whole bill. Beyond the bands: a WWII veteran's property is exempt regardless of disability level from tax year 2024; an unremarried surviving spouse may continue the exemption and carry it to a new home on selling; and the unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran killed in the line of duty, or one certified by the USDVA as receiving DIC for a service-connected death, receives the full exemption even if the veteran never held it.
VeteransApplies statewide$2,500 at 30–49%, $5,000 at 50–69%, and the first $250,000 of EAV exempt at 70%+
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Word VETERAN on Your Licence — Free at Renewal
Illinois prints a veteran designation on a driving licence or state ID for an honorably discharged veteran. It costs NOTHING if added at renewal. Adding it between renewals costs $5 for a licence or $10 for a state ID — and an updated state ID is free for veterans over 65. The Secretary of State verifies your status with the veterans department, so no document goes back and forth.
VeteransApplies statewideVETERAN printed on your licence or ID — free at renewal
Read it and check if you qualifyOne Free Place Per County — the U of I Children of Veterans Scholarship
Undergraduate study at the University of Illinois without tuition charge, for at least four consecutive years, for the child of a veteran of the First or Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, or service on or after 2 August 1990. It is allocated by county, so the field you are competing in is your county rather than the state. Preference goes to children of deceased and disabled veterans.
VeteransApplies statewideUndergraduate tuition at the University of Illinois, for at least four consecutive years
Read it and check if you qualify$250 a Year for a School-Age Child, From Age Ten
A $250 grant each year for each eligible child aged 10 to 18, towards elementary and high school education expenses, where the veteran parent is missing in action, a prisoner of war, rated 100% permanently and totally disabled from service-connected causes, or died of a service-connected cause. Applications have run online since 15 July 2024.
VeteransApplies statewide$250 a year for each eligible child aged 10 to 18
Read it and check if you qualifyCamp Free in State Parks — 100% Disabled Veterans and Former POWs
Illinois waives camping fees at Class A, AA, A-P, B/E and B/E-P sites for a resident veteran receiving 100% service-connected disability compensation or military disability retirement pay, or with permanent loss of use of a leg, legs, arm, arms or a combination — and for any resident former prisoner of war, with no disability test. Class B/S, B/S-P, C and D sites carry no fees at all, and shelter reservation fees are exempt. A $10 utility fee still applies where there are utilities.
VeteransApplies statewideCamping fees waived at Class A, AA, A-P, B/E and B/E-P sites — $10 utility fee still applies
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Prince Home — Closed to New Residents While It Is Reimagined
READ THIS FIRST: the Prince Home is TEMPORARILY CLOSED to new admissions. It is a 15-bed facility with private rooms on the veterans department's Manteno campus, providing housing and supportive and therapeutic services to homeless Illinois veterans diagnosed with a clinical disorder or a physical disability. The department is reimagining it as a centre for unhoused WOMEN veterans. Ask what the current position is before travelling.
VeteransApplies statewideHousing and supportive services at Manteno — currently closed to new admissions
Read it and check if you qualifyHalf Price on Hunting, Fishing and Sportsmen's Licences — No Disability Needed
Illinois resident veterans who served abroad, or were mobilised by presidential order, buy the fishing licence, the hunting licence and the sportsmen's combination licence at HALF PRICE. There is no disability requirement. Apply in person at the natural resources headquarters in Springfield, or by email.
VeteransApplies statewide50% off the fishing, hunting and sportsmen's combination licences
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Military Family Relief Fund — Grants When Activation Cuts the Paycheck
Illinois pays monetary grants for food, housing, utilities and other expenses to National Guard members and Illinois residents in the Reserve components who are called to active duty during a declared emergency — and to their families. More than $15.4 million has gone to over 28,840 families since 2003. The current grant amounts are not published on the pages reviewed.
Serving membersApplies statewideNot a veteran benefitMonetary grants for food, housing, utilities and other expenses during activation
Read it and check if you qualifyMIA/POW Scholarship — Four Years of Tuition and Fees for a Dependent
Full tuition and mandatory fees at Illinois state-supported colleges and universities for the dependent of a veteran who is missing in action, a prisoner of war, rated 100% permanently and totally disabled from service-connected causes — including through unemployability — or whose death the VA rated service-connected. Capped at 120 points, roughly four academic years including summers, and it expires twelve years from first enrolment.
VeteransApplies statewideFull tuition and mandatory fees, about four academic years
Read it and check if you qualifySpecially Adapted Housing Exemption
$100,000 off the assessed value of a home bought or adapted with grant assistance — but only where the total EAV is under $250,000.
VeteransApplies statewide$100,000 off the assessed value
Read it and check if you qualifyIllinois Taxes Neither Military Pay Nor Military Retirement
Both come out on Schedule M. Illinois is one of the few states that exempts serving pay and retired pay alike.
Serving membersApplies statewideThe whole amount subtracted, at Illinois’s flat 4.95%
Read it and check if you qualifyIllinois Veterans' Grant — Tuition and Fees, Uncapped
Pays tuition and mandatory fees at every Illinois state-supported college, university and community college. The catch is geography, not money.
VeteransApplies statewideAll tuition and mandatory fees at an Illinois public institution
Read it and check if you qualifyNo Hunting or Fishing Licence Needed at 10%
A disabled veteran compensated at 10% or more needs no Illinois hunting or fishing licence and no habitat stamp — and does not have to live in Illinois.
VeteransApplies statewideHunting and fishing licences and the habitat stamp, all waived
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans' Preference in State Employment
Three, five or ten points on a state entrance examination — and the three-point tier asks only for six months of service and an honourable discharge.
VeteransApplies statewide10 points disabled or purple heart, 5 for hostilities, 3 for six months and an honourable discharge
Read it and check if you qualifyDisabled Veteran Plates — Registration Free
Registration free on disabled veteran plates — through a mobility certification, or a 50% rating with no mobility test at all.
VeteransApplies statewideRegistration free on one vehicle up to 8,000 lbs, or one motorcycle
Read it and check if you qualifyMilitary Training Toward a Licence — Medic to Nurse Aide, and a Degree Waived for Police and Fire
Corpsman and medical service specialist training is accepted as full equivalency toward certified nurse aide and emergency medical responder certification — skills check-off and the written exam remain. Separately, 24 months of active duty waives the associate degree requirement for municipal police and firefighters, and 36 months waives the bachelor's.
VeteransApplies statewideMedic training accepted toward nurse aide and emergency medical responder; a degree requirement waived for police and fire at 24 or 36 months of service
Read it and check if you qualifyThe State Veterans Homes — a $1,659 Ceiling on What You Contribute
Five state homes. Admission is not based on ability to pay, and the monthly contribution is capped at $1,659, worked from the veteran's and spouse's monthly income and not from assets. A 70% or higher service-connected rating means no monthly contribution at all.
VeteransApplies statewideSkilled and domiciliary care at five homes; monthly contribution capped at $1,659, and nothing at all at a 70% or higher rating
Read it and check if you qualifyVeteran-Owned Business Certification — a 3% Share of State Procurement
State agencies and universities are directed at a goal of not less than 3% of state contract dollars going to certified service-disabled and veteran-owned small businesses. Certification needs 51% ownership by qualified veterans living here, a home office here, and annual gross sales under $150 million.
VeteransApplies statewideA 3% procurement goal across state agencies and universities — described by the state as over $300 million in contracts a year
Read it and check if you qualifyThe War Participation Bonus — $100 a War, and $50 a Month for a Prisoner of War
A one-off cash bonus of $100 for qualifying service in Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf or the Global War on Terrorism, on a monthly scale for the Second World War, and $50 for each month or part of a month spent as a prisoner in Southeast Asia. Small sums, but they are still open and there is an online application.
VeteransApplies statewide$100 for each qualifying conflict period; the Second World War bonus runs at $10 a month for domestic and $15 a month for foreign service; a prisoner of war in Southeast Asia receives $50 for each month or part month held
Read it and check if you qualifyThe County Veterans Assistance Commission — Rent, Utilities and Food, Paid by Voucher to the Vendor
This state is unusual: emergency help for a veteran is a county function, run by a Veterans Assistance Commission under a statewide act and funded from county taxes. It pays rent or mortgage, utilities, food, transport, hygiene items and even property tax to head off a tax sale — by voucher direct to the vendor, and expressly as short-term relief rather than an ongoing income.
VeteransApplies statewideInterim and emergency assistance for essential needs, paid as vouchers to vendors; the amounts are set by each commission against a published standard of need
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Guard Grant — Tuition and the Fees Nobody Else Covers
A serving Guard member with one full year of service in the state Guard can have tuition and eligible fees paid at the state's public two- and four-year colleges. The detail that separates it from a plain tuition waiver: registration, graduation, general activity, matriculation and term fees are named as covered.
VeteransApplies statewideTuition and eligible fees at the state's public two- and four-year colleges — registration, graduation, general activity, matriculation and term fees are named
Read it and check if you qualifyThe $125 Nobody Claims — Setting a Federal Headstone
The federal government supplies a headstone or marker free. It does not pay to have it set, and in a private cemetery that is a bill the family pays. The state reimburses up to $125 towards the setting — a small payment against a cost families never see coming.
VeteransApplies statewideUp to $125 reimbursed towards the cost of setting a federally furnished headstone or grave marker
Read it and check if you qualify$3,000 for a Survivor of a Hostile-Action Death
A one-off state payment of $3,000 to the survivors of military personnel killed in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service. It is separate from the $100 war participation bonuses and from the older $1,000 survivor payments, and it is much larger than either.
VeteransApplies statewide$3,000 one-off payment to survivors of a service member killed in action through terrorist acts or hostile activities during recognised wartime service
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Warmline — 24 Hours, Confidential, and It Is Not a Crisis Line
A state-backed warmline for veterans, their families and caregivers dealing with post-traumatic stress, mild brain injury, military sexual trauma, anxiety, depression or substance use. Peer support, case management and referral, confidentially, at any hour. The programme says plainly what it is not: a crisis line.
VeteransApplies statewideConfidential peer support, high-touch case management and referral for veterans, families and caregivers — by phone or live chat, at any hour
Read it and check if you qualifyThe State Veterans Cemetery at Quincy — and It Has Been There Since the Civil War
This state runs its own veterans cemetery, attached to the veterans home at Quincy. Sunset Cemetery provides interment and perpetual care for eligible veterans and spouses, and more than 7,000 veterans and their spouses lie there, some dating back to the Civil War. The department publishes almost nothing else about it — no eligibility criteria, no fee schedule and no application route — so the phone call is the whole of the process.
VeteransApplies statewideInterment and perpetual care at the state veterans cemetery at Quincy for eligible veterans and spouses; the department publishes no fee schedule and no eligibility criteria
Read it and check if you qualifyRoughly $347,904 to the Next of Kin — and It Is Not the Veterans Department That Pays It
Line of Duty Compensation is administered by the state Court of Claims and provides approximately $347,904 to the surviving next of kin of state service members killed in the line of duty in support of the Global War on Terrorism. It is the largest single state payment in this state's corpus, and because it runs through a court rather than an agency, families routinely never hear of it.
VeteransApplies statewideApproximately $347,904 to the surviving next of kin of a state service member killed in the line of duty in support of the Global War on Terrorism
Read it and check if you qualify$5,000 Off Your Assessment for Coming Home — No Rating Needed, and the Window Is Two Years
A veteran returning from active duty may take a $5,000 reduction in the equalised assessed value of their primary residence — for the tax year in which they return and the following year. No disability rating is required, which makes it the one property tax exemption in this state open to a veteran who has no rating at all. It is also the easiest to lose: two assessment years is a short window to discover a benefit in.
VeteransApplies statewide$5,000 reduction in equalised assessed value on the primary residence, for two consecutive assessment years — the year of return from active duty and the following year
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Mobile Home Tax, Exempted — and the Surviving Spouse Keeps It
The tax imposed under the mobile home local services tax act does not apply where the property is owned and used exclusively as a home by a disabled veteran, their spouse, or their unmarried surviving spouse. Mobile home owners are outside almost every property exemption written for houses, which is why this separate carve-out exists and why nobody mentions it.
VeteransApplies statewideExemption from the mobile home local services tax where the property is owned and used exclusively as a home by a disabled veteran, their spouse or their unmarried surviving spouse
Read it and check if you qualifyHomegrown by Heroes — A Free Label for a Veteran-Owned Farm, Renewed Every Three Years
A veteran who farms, ranches, fishes or makes a value-added food product can put a state-recognised veteran logo on the packaging, the signage, the website and the market stall. The department charges nothing for it and the certification runs three years. The gates are a discharge of honorable or general under honorable conditions, at least 50% veteran ownership AND management control of the agribusiness, and — for a value-added product — at least 50% of the non-water ingredients from certified producers.
VeteransApplies statewideFree certification, renewed every three years, to use the veteran logo on packaging, signage, websites and social media
Read it and check if you qualifyThe Women Veterans Programme — Including a Route to a Female Service Officer
The state veterans department runs a women veterans programme with its own coordinator. The most practical thing in it is small and easy to miss: a Female VSO Support Request form, which asks the department to have a female veteran service officer make contact. The programme also points to military sexual trauma resources, domestic violence and abuse support, women veteran health benefits, and a women veteran licence plate, and it names twenty-five women veteran leaders each year.
VeteransApplies statewideA women veterans coordinator, a request form for a female veteran service officer, and signposted routes for military sexual trauma and domestic abuse
Read it and check if you qualifyVeterans Court — Certified by the Supreme Court, and in 21 Named Counties
Problem-solving courts here cannot hear a case until the Supreme Court certifies them, and certification has to be renewed every three years. All 117 of them were certified as of 22 February 2023. The judicial branch publishes which counties have which court, and veterans courts appear in 21 of them. That number is the point of this record: if guidance told you every circuit has a veterans court, check the list before you plan around it.
VeteransApplies statewideA judicially supervised treatment track in 21 named counties, on courts the Supreme Court certifies and recertifies every three years
Read it and check if you qualify
Does my county change the answer?
For the statewide records, no — the same law applies in all 102 counties. What changes is the office you file with and the rate your bill is calculated at, and we do not yet hold Illinois rates.
- Adams County
- Alexander County
- Bond County
- Boone County
- Brown County
- Bureau County
- Calhoun County
- Carroll County
- Cass County
- Champaign County
- Christian County
- Clark County
- Clay County
- Clinton County
- Coles County
- Cook County
- Crawford County
- Cumberland County
- DeKalb County
- De Witt County
- Douglas County
- DuPage County
- Edgar County
- Edwards County
- Effingham County
- Fayette County
- Ford County
- Franklin County
- Fulton County
- Gallatin County
- Greene County
- Grundy County
- Hamilton County
- Hancock County
- Hardin County
- Henderson County
- Henry County
- Iroquois County
- Jackson County
- Jasper County
- Jefferson County
- Jersey County
- Jo Daviess County
- Johnson County
- Kane County
- Kankakee County
- Kendall County
- Knox County
- Lake County
- LaSalle County
- Lawrence County
- Lee County
- Livingston County
- Logan County
- McDonough County
- McHenry County
- McLean County
- Macon County
- Macoupin County
- Madison County
- Marion County
- Marshall County
- Mason County
- Massac County
- Menard County
- Mercer County
- Monroe County
- Montgomery County
- Morgan County
- Moultrie County
- Ogle County
- Peoria County
- Perry County
- Piatt County
- Pike County
- Pope County
- Pulaski County
- Putnam County
- Randolph County
- Richland County
- Rock Island County
- St. Clair County
- Saline County
- Sangamon County
- Schuyler County
- Scott County
- Shelby County
- Stark County
- Stephenson County
- Tazewell County
- Union County
- Vermilion County
- Wabash County
- Warren County
- Washington County
- Wayne County
- White County
- Whiteside County
- Will County
- Williamson County
- Winnebago County
- Woodford County
Every benefit here was checked against the statute or rule behind it, and each page shows the date. This is an informational match, not a government eligibility determination — the responsible agency decides your application.