Amusement and Recreation Attendants in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,033
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$5,737
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,346
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
$32,770
Kept after tax
$27,033
Worth in national money
$27,346
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $32,770, putting the state 16 of 51 — about 1.93% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Illinois, this one sits low: 490 of 494 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $32,770 the take-home is $27,033, which is worth about $27,346 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $34,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For amusement and recreation attendants, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $32,770, ranking 16 of 51 and running about 1.93% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Amusement and recreation attendants occupies position 490 of 494 in Illinois's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for amusement and recreation attendants on its $32,770 median: $27,033 retained after tax becomes $27,346 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $34,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Amusement and Recreation Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,520 |
| This salary | $32,770 |
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 | $27,033 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,511 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,993 |
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 | $30,931 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,410 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Illinois earn less than $32,770. The published range is $31,200 up to $38,520, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $27,033 take-home in Illinois comes from $32,770. 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 490 of 494.
- Two cautions on $27,346, the adjusted value of that $32,770 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Illinois. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 490 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for amusement and recreation attendants in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $38,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $27,033, from $32,770, 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 490 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 16 of 51 for it.
- This $27,346 adjusted figure, worked from $32,770, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 490 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 490 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $34,590 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $38,520, 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 $27,346.
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 $27,033.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $34,590. 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 ($31,200 to $38,520) 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 $27,346 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 $27,033 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.