Court, Municipal, and License Clerks in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,702
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$9,218
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,139
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
$46,920
Kept after tax
$37,702
Worth in national money
$38,139
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 30 of 51 states for court, municipal, and license clerks, with a middle wage of $46,920. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Court, municipal, and license clerks ranks 370 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,920 the take-home is $37,702, which is worth about $38,139 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $51,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 30 of 51 for court, municipal, and license clerks at $46,920. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 370 of 494 in Illinois places court, municipal, and license clerks 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for court, municipal, and license clerks on its $46,920 median: $37,702 retained after tax becomes $38,139 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $51,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Court, Municipal, and License Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,230 |
| This salary | $46,920 |
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 | $37,702 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,880 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,900 |
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 | $44,210 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,508 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,920 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,450 and the ninetieth is $75,230 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,702 take-home in Illinois comes from $46,920. 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 370 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,139 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 370.
- The Illinois median of $46,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,450 to $75,230. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $37,702, from $46,920, 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 370 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,139, worked from $46,920, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Illinois address, on work sitting at 370 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 $51,240, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $35,450 and the top tenth $75,230 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $38,139 in national terms.
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, $37,702 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 $51,240. 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 ($35,450) and the ninetieth ($75,230) 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 $38,139 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 $37,702 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.