Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,751
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$17,359
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,431
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
$76,110
Kept after tax
$58,751
Worth in national money
$59,431
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Illinois's middle earner gets $76,110, putting the state 15 of 51 — about 18.24% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 494 occupations Illinois reports figures for, this is number 174.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $76,110, tax leaves $58,751, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $59,431 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $75,870.
- For middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education, Illinois sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $76,110, ranking 15 of 51 and running about 18.24% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Illinois's occupational distribution, middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education sits at 174 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 middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education — median $76,110 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,751 retained, $59,431 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $75,870 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $105,580 |
| This salary | $76,110 |
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 | $58,751 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,373 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,755 |
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 | $70,961 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,569 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Illinois earn less than $76,110. The published range is $47,810 up to $105,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $58,751, worked from $76,110. 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 174 of 494.
- Two cautions on $59,431, the adjusted value of that $76,110 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 174 of 494 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Illinois the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,810 to $105,580. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Illinois take-home of $58,751, on $76,110 for work ranking 174 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 174 of 494 in the state.
- This $59,431 adjusted figure, worked from $76,110, 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 174 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 174 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $47,810 at the bottom tenth to $105,580 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $59,431.
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 $58,751 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($47,810) and the ninetieth ($105,580) 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 $59,431 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 $58,751 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.