Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,741
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$12,819
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,306
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
$61,560
Kept after tax
$48,741
Worth in national money
$49,306
State rank
45
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $61,560, ranking 45 of 49 states — about 18.3% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 253.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $61,560 the take-home is $48,741, which is worth about $49,306 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $67,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 45 of 49 for education teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $61,560 — about 18.3% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, education teachers, postsecondary sits at 253 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 education teachers, postsecondary on its $61,560 median: $48,741 retained after tax becomes $49,306 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $67,070 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,000 |
| This salary | $61,560 |
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 | $48,741 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,643 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,839 |
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 | $57,948 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,643 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,560 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,690 and the ninetieth is $100,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $48,741 take-home in Illinois comes from $61,560. 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 253 of 494.
- Two cautions on $49,306, the adjusted value of that $61,560 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 253 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $61,560 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,690 to $100,000. 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 $48,741, from $61,560, 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 253 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 49 for it.
- This $49,306 adjusted figure, worked from $61,560, 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 253 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 253 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 $67,070, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,690, the highest tenth $100,000, 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 $49,306.
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, $48,741 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $67,070. 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 ($37,690) and the ninetieth ($100,000) 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 $49,306 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 $48,741 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.