Medical Transcriptionists in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,624
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$8,866
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,048
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
$45,490
Kept after tax
$36,624
Worth in national money
$37,048
State rank
10
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Illinois is one of the better-paying states for medical transcriptionists. The middle earner takes $45,490, which ranks 10 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 12.57% above the national middle.
- Against 494 occupations Illinois publishes, medical transcriptionists lands at 393. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $45,490, tax leaves $36,624, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $37,048 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $44,420.
- Illinois ranks 10 of 50 states publishing a median for medical transcriptionists, at $45,490 — about 12.57% 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.
- Within Illinois, this work ranks 393 of 494 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Illinois sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for medical transcriptionists — median $45,490 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $36,624 retained, $37,048 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $44,420 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Medical Transcriptionists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,070 |
| This salary | $45,490 |
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 | $36,624 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,731 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,809 |
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 | $42,868 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,397 |
| 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 transcriptionists in Illinois earn under $45,490 and half over. The published range runs $31,760 at the tenth percentile to $55,070 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Illinois the take-home figure of $36,624, from $45,490, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 393 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $37,048, the adjusted value of that $45,490 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 393 of 494 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for medical transcriptionists in Illinois, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,760 to $55,070; 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.
- Take-home for Illinois is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,624 from $45,490. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 393 of 494 locally.
- This $37,048 adjusted figure, worked from $45,490, 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 393 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 393 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,760 at the bottom tenth to $55,070 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,048 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 $36,624 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,760 to $55,070) 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 $37,048 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 $36,624 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.