Broadcast Technicians in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,508
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$16,702
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,174
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
$74,210
Kept after tax
$57,508
Worth in national money
$58,174
State rank
5
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for broadcast technicians is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $74,210, putting the state 5 of 47 — about 24.58% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Broadcast technicians ranks 186 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $74,210, take-home of $57,508 is worth roughly $58,174 in national money. The average comes to $77,070, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For broadcast technicians, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $74,210, ranking 5 of 47 and running about 24.58% 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.
- Position 186 of 494 in Illinois places broadcast technicians 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.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for broadcast technicians, whose median is $74,210, the adjusted figure of $58,174 differs little from $57,508 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $77,070 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Broadcast Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $128,130 |
| This salary | $74,210 |
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 | $57,508 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,037 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,637 |
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 | $69,194 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,405 |
| 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 $74,210. The published range is $35,130 up to $128,130, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $57,508 take-home in Illinois comes from $74,210. 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 186 of 494.
- Two cautions on $58,174, the adjusted value of that $74,210 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 186 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for broadcast technicians in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,130 to $128,130. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $57,508, from $74,210, 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 186 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 47 for it.
- This $58,174 adjusted figure, worked from $74,210, 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 186 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 186 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $77,070, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $35,130 at the bottom tenth to $128,130 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $58,174 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $57,508.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $77,070. 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 ($35,130) and the ninetieth ($128,130) 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 $58,174 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 $57,508 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.