Couriers and Messengers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,806
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$7,294
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,175
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
$39,100
Kept after tax
$31,806
Worth in national money
$32,175
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for couriers and messengers. The median is $39,100, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Illinois, this one sits low: 434 of 494 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $39,100, tax leaves $31,806, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $32,175 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for couriers and messengers: a median of $39,100, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Couriers and messengers occupies position 434 of 494 in Illinois's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for couriers and messengers — median $39,100 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,806 retained, $32,175 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Couriers and Messengers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,550 |
| This salary | $39,100 |
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 | $31,806 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,597 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,399 |
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 | $36,871 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,901 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,100 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,520 and the ninetieth is $47,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $31,806, from $39,100, 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 434 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $32,175, the adjusted value of that $39,100 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 434 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $39,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,520 to $47,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,806 from $39,100. 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 434 of 494 locally.
- This $32,175 adjusted figure, worked from $39,100, 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 434 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 434 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 $40,880, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,520 at the bottom tenth to $47,550 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Illinois is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $32,175 in national terms.
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 $31,806.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $40,880. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,520 to $47,550) 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 $32,175 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 $31,806 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.