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New Illinois Solar for All Income Limits (2026): $97,200 for a Cook County Family of Four

Ryan Cook•July 8, 2026•Updated Sep 2, 2026

A woman in Belleville told me last month she never bothered checking Illinois Solar for All because, in her words, "we make too much for that kind of thing." Household of four. Around $85,000 a year. She was wrong by about six thousand dollars, in her favor.

That conversation happens more than you'd think. And the numbers just moved again.

A modest Illinois home with rooftop solar in late afternoon light

What changed on June 1

Illinois Solar for All updated its income eligibility thresholds for the 2026–2027 Program Year, effective June 1, 2026. The program announced it the next day.

The rule itself hasn't changed. To participate, your household's gross income can't exceed 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) for your county, adjusted for how many people live in your home. What changed is where those lines sit, because AMI gets recalculated every year.

Here's the part almost nobody catches, and it's the reason I'm writing this. Which set of thresholds applies to you depends on the date you sign the Certification and Consent form — not when you apply, not when panels go on the roof. Forms signed before May 31, 2026 use the old thresholds. Forms signed after June 1, 2026 use the new ones. If you talked to somebody this spring and never signed, you're under the new table now.

The county numbers

AMI is a county number, so a statewide figure would be useless to you. This is the piece the national solar sites skip — they link the PDF and move on.

A sample from the official 2026–2027 thresholds, effective 6/1/2026:

County (metro area)	Household of 1	Household of 4	Household of 8
Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will (Chicago–Joliet–Naperville)	$68,050	$97,200	$128,350
Kendall County	$74,800	$106,800	$141,000
Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, Clinton (St. Louis MO–IL)	$63,600	$90,800	$119,900
McLean County (Bloomington)	$65,550	$93,600	$123,600
Champaign County	$62,100	$88,700	$117,100
Peoria County	$59,450	$84,900	$112,100
Macon County (Decatur)	$53,300	$76,100	$100,500
Winnebago County (Rockford)	$50,250	$71,750	$94,750
Most rural downstate counties	$50,250	$71,750	$94,750

Look at the spread. A family of four in Kendall County can earn $106,800 and qualify. Drive two hours south and the same family caps out at $71,750. Same program, same state, wildly different door.

Kendall and Cook aren't outliers because those families are poor. They're high because the median income in Chicagoland is high, and 80% of a big number is still a big number. That's the whole mechanic, and it's why "Solar for All" being read as "solar for the very poor" costs qualified households real money every year.

What it actually costs

For a single-family home, or a building with two to four units: no upfront cost. Five or more units may carry a small one.

Most participants also owe nothing monthly to a solar company. When a contract does include a monthly payment, program rules require that payment be outweighed by the value the panels produce. ILSFA publishes its own example, and it's worth reading slowly:

A household uses 600 kWh at 12¢/kWh — that's $72 in supply charges. The panels generate 500 kWh worth $60. The solar company may bill at most $30 of that $60.

You keep getting a utility bill. You also get one from the Approved Vendor. Added together, they come to less than the single bill you had before. That's the structure. In the program's own words, "The ILSFA program ensures savings and has a 14-day cancellation period without penalties."

A few other protections built into it: a standard disclosure form you must receive before signing anything, no-cost routine maintenance for 15 years, and vendors vetted by the Illinois Power Agency rather than whoever knocked on the door.

The catch I won't bury

Illinois Solar for All hit capacity for single-family projects in 2025. Two-to-four-unit projects too. Households were told to connect with an Approved Vendor and wait for additional program funding in 2026.

That wait is now ending — in stages. The state has been standing up the 2026–2027 Program Year all summer, and the first project submission window reopened on July 20, 2026. Here's the catch inside the catch: that window is for buildings with five or more units. The single-family window has no announced date yet as of late July.

If you qualify today, the honest answer is that you're getting positioned rather than getting panels next month. I'd rather tell you that now than after you've filled out a form. Getting your eligibility confirmed early is still the right move — vendors submit projects the moment a window opens, and the households who get in are the ones whose paperwork existed before opening day.

Why this matters more than it did last year

The federal residential tax credit for customer-owned systems ended at the close of 2025. I wrote about what that actually changed for Illinois homeowners, and the short version is that state programs now carry weight they didn't have to carry before.

Meanwhile the bills keep climbing. Summer supply rates reset June 1 to 11.326¢/kWh at Ameren Illinois and 10.399¢/kWh at ComEd, which land around 20¢ and 17¢ all-in once delivery and fees stack on. ComEd and Ameren are in front of the ICC right now asking for another round of increases that a state watchdog called into question, and the structural pressure from data-center demand isn't easing.

For a household near the eligibility line, that combination is the argument. The rate you pay is going up. The program that removes your upfront cost just raised its ceiling.

How to check, in about five minutes

Find your county. Count everyone living in your home. Compare your gross household income to the number in that row.

If you're under it, you're likely income-eligible, and the next step is confirming it against the program's eligibility tool and getting connected to an Approved Vendor. If you're over it, Illinois Shines is the state's other program — it pays you for the renewable energy credits your system generates, and it works with a cash purchase or financing.

If you're not sure which side of the line you land on, that's genuinely what I'm here for. I'm not the program and I'm not an Approved Vendor — I'm a local installer who reads these tables for a living and can tell you in one call whether it's worth pursuing, whether Solar for All or a standard lease fits your house better, and what your Ameren or ComEd rate is doing to you in the meantime.

The bottom line

The income limits went up on June 1, 2026, they vary by county more than most people imagine, and the signature date on your consent form decides which table you're judged against. A family of four earning $90,000 qualifies across most of Chicagoland and the Metro East, and would not qualify in Peoria. There's no way to know without looking.

Take the five minutes. Call or text (618) 217-2001, or reach out through our contact page, and I'll tell you straight which side of the line you're on.

Sources

Illinois Solar for All — Eligibility verification and 2026–2027 income thresholds

Frequently Asked Questions

Illinois Solar for All caps eligibility at 80% of Area Median Income (AMI), and the thresholds reset on June 1, 2026 for the 2026–2027 Program Year. Because AMI is set county by county, the number that matters is your county's, not a statewide figure. In Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, a household of four can earn up to $97,200. Kendall County is the highest in the state at $106,800 for four people. In the Metro East — Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, and Clinton counties — the limit is $90,800 for a family of four. Peoria County sits at $84,900, McLean County at $93,600, and Winnebago County at $71,750. Many rural downstate counties use the state baseline of $71,750 for four people and $50,250 for a single person. Household size adjusts every figure, so a family of six qualifies at a higher income than a couple does.

In much of Illinois, yes — and that surprises almost everyone I talk to. Illinois Solar for All is not a poverty program. Eligibility runs to 80% of Area Median Income, and in the expensive counties that ceiling is high. A four-person household earning $90,000 qualifies in Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will, and Kendall counties, where limits range from $97,200 to $106,800. That same $90,000 also clears the $90,800 limit in Madison, St. Clair, Monroe, and Clinton counties, and the $93,600 limit in McLean County. It would not qualify in Peoria County, where four people cap at $84,900, or in most rural downstate counties, where the baseline is $71,750. Household size matters just as much as county. If you're a family of six in Cook County, the limit climbs to $112,800. Check your county and household size before you assume you earn too much, because plenty of people assume wrong.

For a single-family home or a building with two to four units, Illinois Solar for All has no upfront cost. Buildings with five or more units may carry a small one. Most participants owe no monthly payment to a solar company at all. When a contract does include monthly payments, program rules require that those payments be outweighed by the value the panels generate. The program's own example: a household using 600 kWh at 12¢/kWh pays $72 in supply charges, and if the panels generate 500 kWh worth $60, the solar company may bill at most $30 of that. You still get a utility bill, but the two bills together come to less than the single bill you had before. ILSFA also requires no-cost routine maintenance for 15 years, gives you a standard disclosure form before you sign anything, and includes a 14-day cancellation period without penalties.

The 2026–2027 thresholds took effect June 1, 2026, and Illinois Solar for All announced them on June 2. What decides which set applies to you isn't the date you apply or the date panels go up — it's the date you sign the Certification and Consent form. Forms signed before May 31, 2026 fall under the previous income thresholds. Forms signed after June 1, 2026 fall under the current ones. That detail matters if you started a conversation with an Approved Vendor this spring and haven't signed yet, because the county limits shifted. The thresholds update annually, so the figures published now hold through the 2026–2027 Program Year for both the Residential Solar and Community Solar sub-programs. If you're close to a limit, check the county table before signing rather than after, since a signature date you can't undo is what locks the standard in place.

You still have options, and honestly most Illinois households land here. If your income runs above 80% of your county's AMI, the state's other program — Illinois Shines — is where you go. It pays you for the renewable energy credits your system produces, and those payments work whether you buy the system with cash or finance it. A $0-down lease is the other common path. Lease pricing in Illinois can run as low as 10¢/kWh, predictable for the full term, which sits well under summer utility rates of roughly 20¢/kWh all-in in Ameren territory and about 17¢/kWh for ComEd. The federal residential tax credit for customer-owned systems ended at the close of 2025, so the math now leans on state incentives and lease structures instead. One more thing worth knowing: Illinois Solar for All hit capacity for single-family projects in 2025, and the 2026–2027 reopening is happening in stages — the window for buildings with five or more units opened July 20, 2026, but the single-family window hadn't been announced as of late July. Qualifying households should get their paperwork lined up with an Approved Vendor before that window opens.