Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state before you talk to any lender. Compare legal limits, fees and the true cost of small loans in your state.
Pawn Shops vs Payday Loans in Illinois
263 pawn shops in 111 cities and towns across Illinois. Pick a city for the full list with addresses and phone numbers, or scroll down for the smaller towns.
Illinois has about 12,692,601 residents, so that's 2.1 pawn shops per 100,000 people (U.S.: 2.7). For comparison, there are 1.1 payday, installment and title loan stores per 100,000 people in Illinois.
- Pawn shops
- 263
- Cities & towns
- 111
- Pawn shops per 100k
- 2.1
- Loan stores
- 140
- List a phone
- 98.1%
- Have a website
- 85.9%
Pawn shops vs payday loan stores in Illinois
Illinois has 263 pawn shops and 140 payday, installment and title loan stores.
Pawn shops
263
2.1 per 100k residents
Payday & loan stores
140
1.1 per 100k residents
8 store chains
Biggest loan store chains in Illinois: OneMain Financial (67), Mariner Finance (30), Sun Loan Company (17), loanDepot (11), Oportun (11).
Borrowing $500 for one month: payday vs pawn vs credit union
| Option | How it works | Cost for one month |
|---|---|---|
| Payday loan (not legal in Illinois) | $75.00 fee every 2 weeks, renewed once | $150.00 |
| Pawn loan (example: 20% a month) | You leave an item worth more than the loan; repay to get it back | $100.00 |
| Credit union PAL (28% APR + $20 fee) | Repaid in installments; membership required | $31.67 |
- Payday cost, share of monthly household income in Illinois
- 2.1%
- Pawn cost, share of monthly household income in Illinois
- 1.4%
- A $400 emergency equals
- 1.7 days of income
Payday: a typical fee of $75 on a $500 loan for 2 weeks, paid twice for a one-month loan (Illinois payday rules are not set in dollars or payday loans are not allowed). Pawn: an example rate of 20% a month; pawn fees and interest are set by Illinois law and vary by shop — ask for the total in writing. PAL: payday alternative loan from a federal credit union, capped at 28% APR plus an application fee of up to $20.
Pawn loan vs payday loan: the key differences
| Pawn loan | Payday loan in IL | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need | An item of value (jewelry, gold, electronics, tools, firearms) and an ID | A bank account, proof of income and an ID |
| Credit check | None | Usually none |
| How much you get | A fraction of the item's resale value | Based on your income, up to the state limit |
| If you can't repay | The shop keeps the item; no collections and no credit damage | Fees pile up with renewals; the debt can go to collections |
| Bank account access | None | Lender can debit your account or cash your check |
| Rules in Illinois | Pawnbrokers are licensed and regulated by Illinois; fees, terms and holding periods are set by state law | Storefront payday loans are not allowed in Illinois |
Pawn shops by city in Illinois
- Chicago · 63
- Springfield · 10
- Chicago Heights · 5
- Peoria · 5
- Waukegan · 5
- Champaign · 4
- Naperville · 4
- Rockford · 4
- Arlington Heights · 3
- Aurora · 3
- Bloomington · 3
- Des Plaines · 3
- Oak Park · 3
- Round Lake · 3
- Berwyn · 2
- Crystal Lake · 2
- Decatur · 2
- Elgin · 2
- Joliet · 2
- Mchenry · 2
- Skokie · 2
- Bolingbrook · 1
- Evanston · 1
- Mount Prospect · 1
- Normal · 1
- Oak Lawn · 1
- Quincy · 1
Where pawn shops cluster in Illinois
Cities ranked by pawn shops per 100,000 residents, with local median household income and poverty rate. Statewide: 2.1 per 100k, median income $87,400.
| City | Pawn shops | Per 100k people | Median income | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Heights | 5 | 9.5 | $56,627 | 22.3% |
| Springfield | 10 | 7.2 | $70,314 | 16.1% |
| Oak Park | 3 | 5.6 | $109,252 | 6.7% |
| Waukegan | 5 | 5.0 | $68,390 | 15.8% |
| Round Lake | 3 | 4.8 | $95,457 | 10.1% |
| Champaign | 4 | 4.2 | $62,086 | 24.0% |
| Peoria | 5 | 3.9 | $57,681 | 19.4% |
| Arlington Heights | 3 | 3.7 | $116,117 | 6.7% |
| Mchenry | 2 | 3.6 | $93,997 | 6.3% |
| Bloomington | 3 | 3.5 | $81,768 | 10.8% |
| Des Plaines | 3 | 3.3 | $84,491 | 8.8% |
| Crystal Lake | 2 | 3.3 | $113,102 | 6.7% |
| Skokie | 2 | 3.2 | $93,128 | 10.1% |
| Berwyn | 2 | 3.1 | $73,993 | 10.8% |
| Decatur | 2 | 2.5 | $56,571 | 17.8% |
Pawn shop chains in Illinois
58 of the 263 pawn shops in Illinois belong to a big chain; the rest are independent.
- Cash America Pawn 32
- EZPAWN 24
- Value Pawn & Jewelry 2
Pawn shops in smaller towns of Illinois
Other cities and towns in Illinois with pawn shops, and the number of shops in each.
- Algonquin 1
- Alsip 2
- Alton 1
- Broadview 1
- Buffalo Grove 1
- Calumet City 4
- Carbondale 3
- Carol Stream 1
- Carpentersville 3
- Centralia 2
- Charleston 1
- Collinsville 4
- Crest Hill 2
- Danville 3
- Dekalb 2
- Du Quoin 1
- Dundee 1
- East Moline 1
- East Saint Louis 3
- Elk Grove Village 1
- Elmhurst 1
- Energy 1
- Fairview Heights 2
- Fox River Grove 1
- Franklin Park 1
- Galesburg 1
- Glendale Heights 1
- Granite City 1
- Hanover Park 2
- Harrisburg 1
- Harvey 2
- Hazel Crest 1
- Herrin 1
- Highland Park 1
- Hinsdale 1
- Hometown 1
- Itasca 2
- Jacksonville 2
- Jerseyville 1
- Kankakee 1
- Lake In The Hills 1
- Lake Villa 1
- Lincoln 1
- Lockport 1
- Marion 3
- Maryville 1
- Mattoon 2
- Melrose Park 1
- Moline 3
- Mount Vernon 2
- Mt Zion 1
- Mundelein 2
- Olney 1
- Olympia Fields 1
- Palos Hills 1
- Pekin 4
- Peru 1
- Pinckneyville 1
- Pontiac 1
- Prospect Heights 1
- Riverdale 1
- Riverside 1
- Rock Island 2
- Rolling Meadows 1
- Roselle 1
- Salem 1
- South Beloit 1
- Sparta 1
- Spring Valley 1
- Sterling 1
- Stone Park 2
- Streamwood 1
- Streator 1
- Summit Argo 1
- Taylorville 2
- Urbana 2
- Vandalia 1
- Villa Park 5
- West Frankfort 1
- Wheeling 1
- Wilmette 1
- Woodstock 1
- Yorkville 1
- Zion 1
Pawn shop listings: © Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA-Permissive 2.0), including Foursquare OS Places and © OpenStreetMap contributors; filtered and de-duplicated by us. Population, income and poverty: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. Call ahead to confirm hours and what a shop buys or lends on.