Firefighters in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,235
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$18,145
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,933
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
$78,380
Kept after tax
$60,235
Worth in national money
$60,933
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for firefighters. The middle earner takes $78,380, which ranks 5 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 32.22% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Firefighters ranks 155 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $78,380, tax leaves $60,235, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $60,933 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $76,530.
- Illinois ranks 5 of 50 states publishing a median for firefighters, at $78,380 — about 32.22% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 155 of 494 in Illinois places firefighters 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.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for firefighters — median $78,380 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $60,235 retained, $60,933 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $76,530 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,060 |
| This salary | $78,380 |
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 | $60,235 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,970 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,897 |
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 | $73,071 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,764 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,380 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,900 and the ninetieth is $106,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $60,235 take-home in Illinois comes from $78,380. 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 155 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,933, the adjusted value of that $78,380 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 155 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $78,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,900 to $106,060. 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 $60,235, from $78,380, 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 155 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $60,933 — the adjusted value of that $78,380 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 155 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,900 and the top tenth $106,060 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,933.
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 $60,235 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,900) and the ninetieth ($106,060) 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 $60,933 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 $60,235 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.