Architectural and Civil Drafters in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,238
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$12,002
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,773
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
$58,240
Kept after tax
$46,238
Worth in national money
$46,773
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $58,240, ranking 47 of 50 states — about 11.96% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 288 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $58,240 the take-home is $46,238, which is worth about $46,773 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $63,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 47 of 50 for architectural and civil drafters, with a median of $58,240 — about 11.96% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 288 of 494 in Illinois places architectural and civil drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for architectural and civil drafters on its $58,240 median: $46,238 retained after tax becomes $46,773 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $63,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,040 |
| This salary | $58,240 |
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 | $46,238 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,976 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,626 |
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 | $54,832 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,386 |
| 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 architectural and civil drafters in Illinois earn under $58,240 and half over. The published range runs $45,760 at the tenth percentile to $88,040 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $46,238, worked from $58,240. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 288 of 494.
- Two cautions on $46,773, the adjusted value of that $58,240 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 288 of 494 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and civil drafters in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,760 to $88,040; 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.
- The Illinois take-home of $46,238, on $58,240 for work ranking 288 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 288 of 494 in the state.
- This $46,773 adjusted figure, worked from $58,240, 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 288 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 288 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 $63,050, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,760 at the bottom tenth to $88,040 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Illinois is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $46,773 in national terms.
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 $46,238 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 $63,050. 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 ($45,760) and the ninetieth ($88,040) 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 $46,773 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 $46,238 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.