Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,601
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$17,809
23.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,291
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
$77,410
Kept after tax
$59,601
Worth in national money
$60,291
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $77,410, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 26.88% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 164 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $77,410, take-home of $59,601 is worth roughly $60,291 in national money. The average comes to $77,570, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, at $77,410 — about 26.88% 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 164 of 494 in Illinois places heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers 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.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, whose median is $77,410, the adjusted figure of $60,291 differs little from $59,601 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $77,570 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $117,550 |
| This salary | $77,410 |
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 | $59,601 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,288 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,837 |
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 | $72,169 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,681 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,410 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,690 and the ninetieth is $117,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $59,601, worked from $77,410. 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 164 of 494.
- Two cautions on $60,291, the adjusted value of that $77,410 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 164 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $77,410 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,690 to $117,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Illinois take-home of $59,601, on $77,410 for work ranking 164 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 164 of 494 in the state.
- This $60,291 adjusted figure, worked from $77,410, 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 164 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 164 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 $46,690 and the top tenth $117,550 — 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 $60,291.
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 $59,601 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($46,690) and the ninetieth ($117,550) 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 $60,291 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 $59,601 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.