Lawyers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$113,358
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$47,442
29.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$114,671
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
$160,800
Kept after tax
$113,358
Worth in national money
$114,671
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for lawyers. The middle earner takes $160,800, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 0.71% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 494 occupations Illinois reports, lawyers comes in at 9 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $160,800 the take-home is $113,358, which is worth about $114,671 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $181,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for lawyers, at $160,800 — about 0.71% 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.
- Lawyers ranks 9 of 494 occupations by median in Illinois, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for lawyers on its $160,800 median: $113,358 retained after tax becomes $114,671 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $181,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lawyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $82,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $160,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $330,200 |
| This salary | $160,800 |
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 | $113,358 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $121,173 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,024 |
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 | $149,366 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,252 |
| 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 $160,800. The published range is $82,160 up to $330,200, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $113,358 take-home in Illinois comes from $160,800. 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 9 of 494.
- Two cautions on $114,671, the adjusted value of that $160,800 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 9 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for lawyers in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $82,160 to $330,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $113,358, from $160,800, 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 9 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- This $114,671 adjusted figure, worked from $160,800, 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 9 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 9 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 $181,240, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $82,160, the highest tenth $330,200, 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 $114,671 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 $113,358.
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 $181,240. 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 ($82,160) and the ninetieth ($330,200) 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 $114,671 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 $113,358 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.