Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,005
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$7,685
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,387
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
$40,690
Kept after tax
$33,005
Worth in national money
$33,387
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $40,690, which ranks 16 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 6.24% above the national middle.
- Within Illinois this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 424. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $40,690 the take-home is $33,005, which is worth about $33,387 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $41,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Illinois ranks 16 of 50 states publishing a median for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, at $40,690 — about 6.24% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Against every occupation Illinois reports, meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ranks 424 of 494, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Illinois's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers on its $40,690 median: $33,005 retained after tax becomes $33,387 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $41,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,390 |
| This salary | $40,690 |
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 | $33,005 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,874 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,501 |
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 | $38,363 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,025 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,690 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,750 and the ninetieth is $47,390 — 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 $33,005, worked from $40,690. 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 424 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,387, the adjusted value of that $40,690 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 424 of 494 in the state.
- The Illinois median of $40,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,750 to $47,390. 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 $33,005, on $40,690 for work ranking 424 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 424 of 494 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $33,387 — the adjusted value of that $40,690 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 424 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,750 and the top tenth $47,390, so most people doing this work in Illinois sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $33,387 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 $33,005 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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,750 to $47,390) 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 $33,387 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 $33,005 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.