Illinois Window Tint Law, in Plain English.
Legal, and Still Dark Enough.

In Illinois, how dark your front side windows may go depends on your rear windows: 35 percent when nothing behind the driver is darker than 35, 50 percent in two other cases, and no film at all when rear film is darker than 30. On the windshield, only a nonreflective strip along the top 6 inches is allowed. The rear side windows and back glass have no limit, as long as the car has a side mirror on each side.

Checked against the statute text on October 8, 2026.

Every tint percentage on this page is a shade: the share of visible light the film lets through. Lower is darker: 5 percent is limo dark, 70 percent is nearly clear. The law is 625 ILCS 5/12-503, and the letters and numbers in parentheses are its subsections.

Two examples: rear at 20, rear at 35

Subsection (a-5) opens with a ban: no window treatment on the windows next to the driver. Then it lists the exceptions, and every one is keyed to the windows behind the driver’s seat. The darker you go in back, the lighter the front has to be, until the front gets nothing.

Rear film at 20 percent. 20 is darker than 30, so no exception in (a-5) applies and the front side windows get no film. A 20 percent rear with clear front windows is legal. A 20 percent rear with 35 on the front is not.

Rear film at 35 percent. No window behind the driver is darker than 35, so (a-5)(2) applies and the front side windows may carry nonreflective film of 35 percent or lighter. 35 all around is legal. So is 50 on the front with 35 in back.

In between, rear film of at least 30 but under 35 percent moves the front limit to 50 percent, under (a-5)(1). That makes 30 the darkest rear film that still leaves the front doors any film. S5 carries it. The Illinois window tint law 2026 chart works through five combinations.

Illinois writes the tint ticket to the driver. We tell you where the line is before any film goes on.

The windshield: the top 6 inches

Subsection (a) allows one thing on the windshield: nonreflective tinted film along the uppermost portion, no more than 6 inches down from the top. That is where the AS-1 line usually falls, but the statute measures from the top of the glass, not from the mark.

No other film goes on the windshield, clear film included. The wording of (a) reaches any window application and any nonreflective material. Under (h), stickers or certificates that the state or a local authority requires on the glass are exempt.

Two kinds of cars sit outside (a): cars properly registered in another state, under (f)(2), and cars that carry the medical exemption, under (g). Subsection (a-10) also bars anyone from installing material that (a) prohibits, so the rule binds the installer as well as the driver.

The top strip is the windshield film we sell as a sunstrip, from $60, cut no more than 6 inches from the top, per Illinois law. The windshield tint page covers it.

The rear windows have no limit, with one condition

The statute sets no minimum for the rear side windows or the back glass. Any shade is legal behind the driver’s seat, 5 percent included.

The condition is in (b-5): a car with a treated window behind the driver’s seat must have a side mirror on each side that meets Section 12-502.

Reflective film: nonreflective only

The word is in every allowance: “nonreflective tinted film” on the windshield strip in (a) and on the front side windows in (a-5)(1) and (2), and “nonreflective tint” over factory glass in (a-5)(4). Subsection (a) also lists reflective material among the things barred from the windshield. No reflectivity percentage appears anywhere in 12-503, so one quoted for Illinois did not come from the statute.

The 5 percent meter variance

Each front side exception in (a-5) carries the same phrase: a 5 percent variance observed by an officer metering the light transmittance. It is room on the officer’s reading, not a lower legal number. The legal figures stay 35 and 50.

We install to 35 and 50, never to the variance.

SUVs, trucks and vans follow the same rules

Section 12-503 never mentions sedans, SUVs, vans or trucks. On every vehicle, the front side windows depend on what is behind the driver’s seat.

The difference people notice comes from the factory. When an SUV, van or truck has factory privacy glass in back, that is factory tinted rear glass under (a-5)(4), and the front side windows may carry nonreflective film of 50 percent or lighter.

The medical exemption: what you carry, what the installer keeps

Subsection (g) lifts (a) and (a-5) for a vehicle with distinctive plates or a plate sticker issued under Section 3-412(k), owned and driven by a person whose medical condition requires shielding from direct sun, or used to carry such a person who lives at the owner’s address. The statute names lupus, disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis, light sensitivity from a traumatic brain injury and albinism, among others. No exemption from the front side rule is granted for a condition that sunglasses or other eye protection can handle.

What the owner needs:

• Distinctive license plates or a plate sticker for the vehicle, issued under Section 3-412(k).
• A certified statement or letter from a physician licensed in Illinois, with the date, the physician’s name, address and signature, and the patient’s name, address and condition.
• That statement in the vehicle at all times.
• A renewal by the physician every 4 years.
• A copy sent to the Secretary of State.

Two lines bind the installer. Under (g-7), exempt film goes only on a vehicle that already has the plates or sticker on it at the time of installation. Under (a-10)(2), the installer gets a copy of the physician’s statement first and keeps it in permanent records. We follow both: bring the statement, with the plates or sticker already on the car.

What a violation costs

Under (j), a first violation is a petty offense with a fine of 50 to 500 dollars. A second or later violation is a Class C misdemeanor with a fine of 100 to 500 dollars. A conviction under (a), (a-5), (b) or (b-5) also comes with an order to bring the windows into compliance.

The same penalties reach installers: (j) also covers (a-10) and (g-7).

Driving through Illinois on out of state plates

Under (f)(2), a vehicle properly registered in another state is exempt from (a), (a-5), (b) and (b-5): the windshield, front side, rear and mirror rules. A car on Indiana or Wisconsin plates driving through Illinois is not held to the numbers on this page.

The exemption ends when the car is registered here.

It also has its own page to bookmark or send: the Illinois tint law checker.

What we install

We tint to the line. Before any film goes on, we check the combination against (a-5) and tell you if it is not legal.

Common legal combinations, in our films:

• 35 all around. Carbon, S5 or S9, legal under (a-5)(2).
• 50 on the front, 30 in back. S5, the film with a 30 percent shade, legal under (a-5)(1).
• 50 on the front over factory privacy glass. S5 or S9, legal under (a-5)(4).
• Clear front, dark rear. Any film and any shade behind the driver, with no film on the front side windows.

Lighter film still rejects infrared: Rayno rates S9 in 35 and 50 at 92 percent infrared rejection, and it blocks 99.9 percent of UV. S9 also comes in 70 for the front doors, a shade Rayno publishes no figure for.

Compare them on the tint shades page, then ask for a quote with the car and the shades, and we call you back with an exact price within minutes during shop hours. Most jobs are done the same day at the shop in Elk Grove Village.