Marriage and Family Therapists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,296
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$12,674
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,856
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
$60,970
Kept after tax
$48,296
Worth in national money
$48,856
State rank
25
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 25 of 45 states for marriage and family therapists, with a middle wage of $60,970. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Marriage and family therapists ranks 260 among 494 occupations Illinois publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $60,970, take-home of $48,296 is worth roughly $48,856 in national money. The average comes to $68,510, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 25 of 45 for marriage and family therapists at $60,970. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 260 of 494 in Illinois places marriage and family therapists 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.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for marriage and family therapists, whose median is $60,970, the adjusted figure of $48,856 differs little from $48,296 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $68,510 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Marriage and Family Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,900 |
| This salary | $60,970 |
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 | $48,296 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,169 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,801 |
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 | $57,394 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,597 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,970 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $51,420 and the ninetieth is $104,900 — 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 $48,296, worked from $60,970. 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 260 of 494.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,856 uses one figure for the whole of Illinois. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 494 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 260.
- The Illinois median of $60,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $51,420 to $104,900. 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 $48,296, on $60,970 for work ranking 260 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 260 of 494 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,856, worked from $60,970, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Illinois address, on work sitting at 260 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 $68,510, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $51,420 and the top tenth $104,900 — 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 $48,856.
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 $48,296 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $68,510. 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 ($51,420) and the ninetieth ($104,900) 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 $48,856 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 $48,296 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.