Medical Equipment Preparers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,554
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$9,496
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,001
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
$48,050
Kept after tax
$38,554
Worth in national money
$39,001
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Illinois pays medical equipment preparers a middle wage of $48,050, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 0.73% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 352.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $48,050, tax leaves $38,554, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $39,001 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $50,940, since top earners drag the number up.
- Illinois's median for medical equipment preparers is $48,050, about 0.73% above the national figure and 17 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.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, medical equipment preparers sits at 352 of 494 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for medical equipment preparers — median $48,050 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $38,554 retained, $39,001 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $50,940 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Equipment Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,390 |
| This salary | $48,050 |
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 | $38,554 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,788 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,973 |
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 | $45,270 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,595 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of medical equipment preparers in Illinois earn under $48,050 and half over. The published range runs $38,280 at the tenth percentile to $66,390 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,554 take-home in Illinois comes from $48,050. 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 352 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Illinois, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,001, the adjusted value of that $48,050 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 352 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical equipment preparers in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,280 to $66,390; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $38,554, from $48,050, 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 352 of 494 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Illinois, so $39,001 — the adjusted value of that $48,050 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 352 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 $50,940, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,280 at the bottom tenth to $66,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $39,001.
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 $38,554.
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 $50,940. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,280 to $66,390) 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 $39,001 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 $38,554 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.