First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$97,052
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$38,028
28.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$98,176
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
$135,080
Kept after tax
$97,052
Worth in national money
$98,176
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays this job a middle wage of $135,080, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 27.39% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Illinois. It ranks 21 out of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $135,080 the take-home is $97,052, which is worth about $98,176 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $126,760, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Illinois's median for first-line supervisors of police and detectives is $135,080, about 27.39% above the national figure and 6 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Illinois, first-line supervisors of police and detectives ranks 21 of 494 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for first-line supervisors of police and detectives on its $135,080 median: $97,052 retained after tax becomes $98,176 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $126,760 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $135,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $162,640 |
| This salary | $135,080 |
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 | $97,052 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $103,593 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,429 |
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 | $125,509 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,984 |
| 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 first-line supervisors of police and detectives in Illinois earn under $135,080 and half over. The published range runs $81,750 at the tenth percentile to $162,640 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $97,052, from $135,080, 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 21 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $98,176, the adjusted value of that $135,080 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 21 of 494 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for first-line supervisors of police and detectives in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,750 to $162,640; 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.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $97,052 from $135,080. 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 21 of 494 locally.
- This $98,176 adjusted figure, worked from $135,080, 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 21 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 21 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 $126,760, 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 $81,750 and the top tenth $162,640, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $98,176 in national terms.
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 $97,052 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $126,760. 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 ($81,750 to $162,640) 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 $98,176 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 $97,052 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.