Library Assistants, Clerical in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,474
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$6,206
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,803
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
$34,680
Kept after tax
$28,474
Worth in national money
$28,803
State rank
29
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois sits in the middle of the pack for library assistants, clerical. The median is $34,680, ranking 29 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Illinois, this one sits low: 482 of 494 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $34,680, tax leaves $28,474, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $28,803 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois occupies the middle band for library assistants, clerical: a median of $34,680, ranking 29 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.
- Library assistants, clerical occupies position 482 of 494 in Illinois's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for library assistants, clerical — median $34,680 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $28,474 retained, $28,803 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,520 |
| This salary | $34,680 |
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 | $28,474 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,045 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,116 |
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 | $32,724 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,559 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,680 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $44,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,474 take-home in Illinois comes from $34,680. 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 482 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,803, the adjusted value of that $34,680 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 482 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $34,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $44,520. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $28,474, from $34,680, 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 482 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $28,803 — the adjusted value of that $34,680 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 482 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 $36,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,200 and the top tenth $44,520, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $28,803.
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 $28,474.
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 $36,190. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $44,520) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Illinois rather than a national figure.
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 $28,803 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 $28,474 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.