Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,128
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$10,662
20.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,616
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
$52,790
Kept after tax
$42,128
Worth in national money
$42,616
State rank
24
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 24 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $52,790. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 310.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $52,790, take-home of $42,128 is worth roughly $42,616 in national money. The average comes to $60,790, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 24 of 50 for legal secretaries and administrative assistants at $52,790. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, legal secretaries and administrative assistants sits at 310 of 494 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for legal secretaries and administrative assistants, whose median is $52,790, the adjusted figure of $42,616 differs little from $42,128 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $60,790 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Legal Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,470 |
| This salary | $52,790 |
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 | $42,128 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,597 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,277 |
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 | $49,718 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,963 |
| 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 $52,790. The published range is $41,600 up to $99,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $42,128 take-home in Illinois comes from $52,790. 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 310 of 494.
- Two cautions on $42,616, the adjusted value of that $52,790 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 310 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for legal secretaries and administrative assistants in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,600 to $99,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $42,128, from $52,790, 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 310 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 50 for it.
- This $42,616 adjusted figure, worked from $52,790, 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 310 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 310 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 $60,790 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $41,600 at the bottom tenth to $99,470 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $42,616 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $42,128 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $60,790. 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 ($41,600) and the ninetieth ($99,470) 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 $42,616 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 $42,128 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.