Aircraft Service Attendants in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,784
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$7,286
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,152
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
$39,070
Kept after tax
$31,784
Worth in national money
$32,152
State rank
31
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Illinois pays aircraft service attendants a middle wage of $39,070, 31 of 46 states and about 3.41% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Illinois this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, aircraft service attendants ranks 435. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $39,070, take-home of $31,784 is worth roughly $32,152 in national money. The average comes to $41,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois's $39,070 median for aircraft service attendants places it 31 of 46 states, about 3.41% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Illinois reports, aircraft service attendants ranks 435 of 494, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for aircraft service attendants, whose median is $39,070, the adjusted figure of $32,152 differs little from $31,784 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Aircraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,470 |
| This salary | $39,070 |
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 | $31,784 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,573 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,397 |
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 | $36,843 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,899 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,070 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,230 and the ninetieth is $49,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $31,784 take-home in Illinois comes from $39,070. 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 435 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,152 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 435.
- The Illinois median of $39,070 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,230 to $49,470. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $31,784, from $39,070, 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 435 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,152, worked from $39,070, 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 435 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 $41,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,230 and the top tenth $49,470, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $32,152.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Illinois then takes its own share, leaving $31,784.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $41,540. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,230 to $49,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Illinois rather than a national figure.
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 $32,152 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 $31,784 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.