Architectural and Engineering Managers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$115,140
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$48,470
29.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$116,473
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
$163,610
Kept after tax
$115,140
Worth in national money
$116,473
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 27 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $163,610. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 7 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $163,610, take-home of $115,140 is worth roughly $116,473 in national money. The average comes to $170,480, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 27 of 51 for architectural and engineering managers at $163,610. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Illinois, architectural and engineering managers ranks 7 of 494 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for architectural and engineering managers, whose median is $163,610, the adjusted figure of $116,473 differs little from $115,140 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $170,480 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 Engineering Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $112,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $163,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $231,880 |
| This salary | $163,610 |
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 | $115,140 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $123,093 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,199 |
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 | $151,973 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,500 |
| 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 engineering managers in Illinois earn under $163,610 and half over. The published range runs $112,090 at the tenth percentile to $231,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $115,140 take-home in Illinois comes from $163,610. 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 7 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $116,473, the adjusted value of that $163,610 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 7 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and engineering managers in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $112,090 to $231,880; 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 $115,140, from $163,610, 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 7 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $116,473 — the adjusted value of that $163,610 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 7 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 $170,480 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $112,090, the highest tenth $231,880, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $116,473.
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 $115,140 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 $170,480. 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 ($112,090) and the ninetieth ($231,880) 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 $116,473 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 $115,140 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.