Accountants and Auditors in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,445
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$18,785
23.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,157
Illinois costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Illinois — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$80,230
Kept after tax
$61,445
Worth in national money
$62,157
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays accountants and auditors around $80,230 at the midpoint, 21 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 137 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $80,230, take-home of $61,445 is worth roughly $62,157 in national money. The average comes to $88,910, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For accountants and auditors the Illinois median is $80,230, ranking 21 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Accountants and auditors ranks 137 of 494 occupations in Illinois by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for accountants and auditors, whose median is $80,230, the adjusted figure of $62,157 differs little from $61,445 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $88,910 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Accountants and Auditors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $54,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,990 |
| This salary | $80,230 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Illinois | $61,445 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,272 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,012 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $74,791 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,924 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of accountants and auditors in Illinois earn under $80,230 and half over. The published range runs $54,510 at the tenth percentile to $131,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $61,445 take-home in Illinois comes from $80,230. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 137 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $62,157 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 137.
- Figures are distribution medians for accountants and auditors in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $54,510 to $131,990; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $61,445, from $80,230, assumes a single Illinois filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 137 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $62,157, worked from $80,230, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Illinois address, on work sitting at 137 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,910, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $54,510, the highest tenth $131,990, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Illinois sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $62,157 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Illinois adds its own income tax on top — which is why $61,445 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Illinois is $88,910. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($54,510) and the ninetieth ($131,990) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Illinois's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $62,157 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $61,445 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Illinois income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.