Cargo and Freight Agents in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,376
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$12,374
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,925
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
$59,750
Kept after tax
$47,376
Worth in national money
$47,925
State rank
9
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cargo and freight agents is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $59,750, putting the state 9 of 48 — about 14.33% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 276 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,750 the take-home is $47,376, which is worth about $47,925 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $58,120, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For cargo and freight agents, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $59,750, ranking 9 of 48 and running about 14.33% 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.
- Cargo and freight agents ranks 276 of 494 occupations in Illinois by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for cargo and freight agents on its $59,750 median: $47,376 retained after tax becomes $47,925 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $58,120 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Cargo and Freight Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,580 |
| This salary | $59,750 |
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 | $47,376 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,189 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,723 |
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 | $56,249 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,503 |
| 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 cargo and freight agents in Illinois earn under $59,750 and half over. The published range runs $40,030 at the tenth percentile to $80,580 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 $47,376, worked from $59,750. 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 276 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $47,925, the adjusted value of that $59,750 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 276 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cargo and freight agents in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,030 to $80,580; 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 $47,376, on $59,750 for work ranking 276 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 276 of 494 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $47,925 — the adjusted value of that $59,750 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 276 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,030 and the top tenth $80,580, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $47,925 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Illinois's own levy, $47,376 remains.
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 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,030 to $80,580) 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 $47,925 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 $47,376 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.