Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,203
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$7,097
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,564
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
$38,300
Kept after tax
$31,203
Worth in national money
$31,564
State rank
35
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Illinois. The middle earner gets $38,300. That is 35 of 48 states, and about 9.58% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 494 occupations Illinois publishes, this job lands at 440. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $38,300, take-home of $31,203 is worth roughly $31,564 in national money. The average comes to $41,520, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, Illinois sits in the lower band at $38,300, ranking 35 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 9.58%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Illinois, this work ranks 440 of 494 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, whose median is $38,300, the adjusted figure of $31,564 differs little from $31,203 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,520 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,430 |
| This salary | $38,300 |
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 | $31,203 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,954 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,348 |
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 | $36,121 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,839 |
| 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 $38,300. The published range is $34,550 up to $46,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,203 take-home in Illinois comes from $38,300. 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 440 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,564 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 440.
- Reported values are medians; for helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,550 to $46,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,203, from $38,300, 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 440 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,564, worked from $38,300, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Illinois address, on work sitting at 440 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 $41,520 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,550 at the tenth percentile, $46,430 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Illinois sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $31,564 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $31,203 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $41,520. 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 ($34,550 to $46,430) 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 $31,564 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 $31,203 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.