Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,693
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$18,387
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,396
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
$79,080
Kept after tax
$60,693
Worth in national money
$61,396
State rank
3
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $79,080, putting the state 3 of 48 — about 31.38% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 151.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $79,080 the take-home is $60,693, which is worth about $61,396 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $81,990, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $79,080, ranking 3 of 48 and running about 31.38% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, earth drillers, except oil and gas sits at 151 of 494 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for earth drillers, except oil and gas on its $79,080 median: $60,693 retained after tax becomes $61,396 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $81,990 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,980 |
| This salary | $79,080 |
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 | $60,693 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,463 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,941 |
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 | $73,722 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,825 |
| 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 earth drillers, except oil and gas in Illinois earn under $79,080 and half over. The published range runs $61,690 at the tenth percentile to $107,980 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $60,693, worked from $79,080. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 151 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,396 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 151.
- Figures are distribution medians for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,690 to $107,980; 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.
- The Illinois take-home of $60,693, on $79,080 for work ranking 151 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 151 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,396, worked from $79,080, 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 151 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $81,990 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $61,690 at the tenth percentile, $107,980 at the ninetieth.
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 $61,396 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $60,693.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $81,990. 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 ($61,690 to $107,980) 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 $61,396 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 $60,693 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.