Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,747
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$20,003
23.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,486
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
$83,750
Kept after tax
$63,747
Worth in national money
$64,486
State rank
36
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Illinois. The middle earner gets $83,750. That is 36 of 48 states, and about 16.73% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Illinois this is well-paid work. Of 494 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 121 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $83,750, tax leaves $63,747, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $64,486 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $95,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For clinical and counseling psychologists, Illinois sits in the lower band at $83,750, ranking 36 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 16.73%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Illinois publishes a median for, clinical and counseling psychologists sits 121 of 494 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for clinical and counseling psychologists — median $83,750 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $63,747 retained, $64,486 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $95,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $168,730 |
| This salary | $83,750 |
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 | $63,747 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,748 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,232 |
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 | $78,063 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,227 |
| 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 clinical and counseling psychologists in Illinois earn under $83,750 and half over. The published range runs $36,580 at the tenth percentile to $168,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $63,747, from $83,750, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 121 of 494 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,486, the adjusted value of that $83,750 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 121 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for clinical and counseling psychologists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,580 to $168,730; 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.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,747 from $83,750. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 121 of 494 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $64,486 — the adjusted value of that $83,750 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 121 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 $95,590, 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 $36,580 at the bottom tenth to $168,730 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 $64,486 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, $63,747 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 $95,590. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,580) and the ninetieth ($168,730) 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 $64,486 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 $63,747 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.