Dental Hygienists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,197
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$24,473
25.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,033
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
$96,670
Kept after tax
$72,197
Worth in national money
$73,033
State rank
25
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Illinois pays dental hygienists around $96,670 at the midpoint, 25 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Illinois reports, dental hygienists comes in at 93 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $96,670, take-home of $72,197 is worth roughly $73,033 in national money. The average lands at $91,820, below the middle of the range.
- For dental hygienists the Illinois median is $96,670, ranking 25 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Dental hygienists ranks 93 of 494 occupations by median in Illinois, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for dental hygienists, whose median is $96,670, the adjusted figure of $73,033 differs little from $72,197 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $91,820 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dental Hygienists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $74,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $96,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,410 |
| This salary | $96,670 |
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 | $72,197 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $76,837 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,038 |
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 | $90,074 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,340 |
| 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 dental hygienists in Illinois earn under $96,670 and half over. The published range runs $74,280 at the tenth percentile to $118,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $72,197 take-home in Illinois comes from $96,670. 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 93 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,033, the adjusted value of that $96,670 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 93 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for dental hygienists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $74,280 to $118,410; 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.
- Retained pay of $72,197, from $96,670, 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 93 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $73,033 — the adjusted value of that $96,670 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 93 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 $91,820, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $74,280 and the top tenth $118,410, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $73,033.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Illinois adds its own income tax on top — which is why $72,197 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $91,820. 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 ($74,280 to $118,410) 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 $73,033 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 $72,197 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.