Cost Estimators in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,093
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$19,657
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,824
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
$82,750
Kept after tax
$63,093
Worth in national money
$63,824
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for cost estimators. The middle earner takes $82,750, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 5.09% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 123 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $82,750, tax leaves $63,093, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,824 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $88,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for cost estimators, at $82,750 — about 5.09% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Illinois, cost estimators ranks 123 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.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for cost estimators — median $82,750 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $63,093 retained, $63,824 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $88,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $136,590 |
| This salary | $82,750 |
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 | $63,093 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,045 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,170 |
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 | $77,133 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,141 |
| 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 $82,750. The published range is $49,200 up to $136,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $63,093, from $82,750, 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 123 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $63,824, the adjusted value of that $82,750 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 123 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for cost estimators in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,200 to $136,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,093 from $82,750. 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 123 of 494 locally.
- This $63,824 adjusted figure, worked from $82,750, 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 123 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 123 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 $88,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,200, the highest tenth $136,590, 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 $63,824.
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, $63,093 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $88,880. 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 ($49,200) and the ninetieth ($136,590) 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 $63,824 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 $63,093 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.