Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,596
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$13,424
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,182
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
$64,020
Kept after tax
$50,596
Worth in national money
$51,182
State rank
18
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $64,020, ranking 18 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Illinois, this sits in the middle: 225 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $64,020, tax leaves $50,596, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $51,182 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $71,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for kindergarten teachers, except special education: a median of $64,020, ranking 18 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Kindergarten teachers, except special education ranks 225 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.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for kindergarten teachers, except special education — median $64,020 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $50,596 retained, $51,182 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $71,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,420 |
| This salary | $64,020 |
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 | $50,596 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,620 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,997 |
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 | $60,256 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,834 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,020 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,040 and the ninetieth is $103,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $50,596, from $64,020, 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 225 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 $51,182, the adjusted value of that $64,020 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 225 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $64,020 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,040 to $103,420. 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 $50,596 from $64,020. 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 225 of 494 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $51,182 — the adjusted value of that $64,020 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 225 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $71,160, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,040, the highest tenth $103,420, 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 $51,182 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 $50,596.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $71,160. 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 ($46,040) and the ninetieth ($103,420) 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 $51,182 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 $50,596 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.