Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,612
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$9,188
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,048
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
$46,800
Kept after tax
$37,612
Worth in national money
$38,048
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 20 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $46,800. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Illinois this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 371. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $46,800, take-home of $37,612 is worth roughly $38,048 in national money. The average comes to $53,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 20 of 51 for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors at $46,800. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Illinois reports, exercise trainers and group fitness instructors ranks 371 of 494, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors, whose median is $46,800, the adjusted figure of $38,048 differs little from $37,612 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $53,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Exercise Trainers and Group Fitness Instructors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,780 |
| This salary | $46,800 |
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 | $37,612 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,784 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,893 |
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 | $44,097 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,498 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Illinois earn less than $46,800. The published range is $31,210 up to $92,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $37,612, from $46,800, 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 371 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $38,048, the adjusted value of that $46,800 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 371 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for exercise trainers and group fitness instructors in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,210 to $92,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,612 from $46,800. 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 371 of 494 locally.
- This $38,048 adjusted figure, worked from $46,800, 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 371 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 371 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 $53,300 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $31,210, the highest tenth $92,780, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $38,048 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, $37,612 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $53,300. 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 ($31,210) and the ninetieth ($92,780) 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 $38,048 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 $37,612 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.