Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,719
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$18,401
23.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,423
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
$79,120
Kept after tax
$60,719
Worth in national money
$61,423
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays this job a middle wage of $79,120, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 0.46% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 150 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $79,120 the take-home is $60,719, which is worth about $61,423 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $87,940, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois's median for market research analysts and marketing specialists is $79,120, about 0.46% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 150 of 494 in Illinois places market research analysts and marketing specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for market research analysts and marketing specialists on its $79,120 median: $60,719 retained after tax becomes $61,423 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $87,940 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: Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,110 |
| This salary | $79,120 |
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 | $60,719 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,491 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,943 |
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 | $73,759 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,828 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,120 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,970 and the ninetieth is $139,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $60,719, worked from $79,120. 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 150 of 494.
- Two cautions on $61,423, the adjusted value of that $79,120 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 150 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $79,120 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,970 to $139,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Illinois take-home of $60,719, on $79,120 for work ranking 150 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 150 of 494 in the state.
- This $61,423 adjusted figure, worked from $79,120, 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 150 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 150 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 $87,940 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $46,970 and the top tenth $139,110 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $61,423.
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 $60,719.
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 $87,940. 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 ($46,970) and the ninetieth ($139,110) 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 $61,423 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 $60,719 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.