Human Resources Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,215
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$17,605
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,901
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
$76,820
Kept after tax
$59,215
Worth in national money
$59,901
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays human resources specialists a middle wage of $76,820, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 1.16% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 169 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $76,820, take-home of $59,215 is worth roughly $59,901 in national money. The average comes to $81,480, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois's median for human resources specialists is $76,820, about 1.16% above the national figure and 17 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.
- Human resources specialists ranks 169 of 494 occupations in Illinois by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for human resources specialists, whose median is $76,820, the adjusted figure of $59,901 differs little from $59,215 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $81,480 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: Human Resources Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,940 |
| This salary | $76,820 |
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 | $59,215 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,800 |
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 | $71,621 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,630 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,820 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,980 and the ninetieth is $123,940 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $59,215, from $76,820, 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 169 of 494 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,901, the adjusted value of that $76,820 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 169 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $76,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,980 to $123,940. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,215 from $76,820. 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 169 of 494 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $59,901 — the adjusted value of that $76,820 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 169 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 $81,480 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 $48,980, the highest tenth $123,940, 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 $59,901 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Illinois then takes its own share, leaving $59,215.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $81,480. 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 ($48,980) and the ninetieth ($123,940) 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 $59,901 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 $59,215 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.