Librarians and Media Collections Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,601
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$13,099
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,175
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
$62,700
Kept after tax
$49,601
Worth in national money
$50,175
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $62,700, ranking 29 of 51 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: 236 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $62,700 the take-home is $49,601, which is worth about $50,175 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $69,420, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for librarians and media collections specialists: a median of $62,700, ranking 29 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Librarians and media collections specialists ranks 236 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.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for librarians and media collections specialists on its $62,700 median: $49,601 retained after tax becomes $50,175 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $69,420 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,540 |
| This salary | $62,700 |
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 | $49,601 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,559 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,912 |
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 | $59,018 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,732 |
| 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 $62,700. The published range is $38,650 up to $103,540, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $49,601, worked from $62,700. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 236 of 494.
- Two cautions on $50,175, the adjusted value of that $62,700 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 236 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for librarians and media collections specialists in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,650 to $103,540. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Illinois take-home of $49,601, on $62,700 for work ranking 236 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 236 of 494 in the state.
- This $50,175 adjusted figure, worked from $62,700, 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 236 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 236 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 $69,420, 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 $38,650, the highest tenth $103,540, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $50,175 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $49,601.
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 $69,420. 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 ($38,650) and the ninetieth ($103,540) 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 $50,175 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 $49,601 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.